Exclusive Article by Dennis Hung at EMRIndustry
Dennis Hung is a business consultant and writer who’s passionate about health technology trends and medical technology topics. He’s spends most of his time consulting for healthcare companies in North America.
Top healthcare technology to look for in 2016
According to University of Chicago’s research report, healthcare industry is expected to record a 21% increase in IT jobs by 2020. Across all the health care providers in the world, there is a demand for better, creative and advanced healthcare technologies that will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of providing health services in the hospitals. Many of the current systems being developed have not been approved by the relevant authorities. Let’s look at some of the top healthcare technologies which might be popular in 2016.
3D Printing
This technology works by building object layers using microscopic layers of fusing molecules until the object is completed. Typically, the technology only works when it is being simulated from a real object, with a 3D scanner to gather necessary data that is then used to print a 3D bioprinter. To create the bio-print, layers of materials such as glass, plastics or ceramics are added to create the object similar to the digital model taken from the real model. 3D printing technology has been used especially to make implants for patients with chronic bone infection. The technology has been used by healthcare professionals to create artificial limbs, jaw and teeth among others.
Robotics
Robotics are increasingly being used in the healthcare field and will greatly impact on how nursing will be practiced in future. The growth in robotics is expected due to workforce shortages, calls for better quality of healthcare, human errors and growing elder population. Robotic technology is expected to grow in areas such as bio-mechatronics, nanomedicine and robots as direct care providers. Robots are being developed to perform routine functions in the hospital to reduce cost as well as reduce errors often made by healthcare professionals. However, the nurse leaders are being urged to evaluate this option to determine how much simulation is too much.
Biometrics
To ensure healthcare environment provides services with utmost confidentiality and security of patients’ data, biometrics is better technology to attain this objective. Biometrics is the science of identifying people using their physical attributes such as retinal scans, handprints, fingerprints, voice recognition, facial structure, palm veins and dynamic signatures. It is projected that 2016 may become the year where most healthcare organizations will adopt the biometric signatures, to provide the needed security for the medical records. Healthcare professionals would then have an easier time to identify patients, stored health records and ensure confidential patient data does not get to the wrong hands.
Imaging technologies
Many healthcare organizations have seen advances in the MRI, CT and PET scans and other techniques that have had a major impact in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The last five years have revolutionized every aspect of medicine and that is expected to continue in 2016. Enterprise Imaging (EI) is one of the technology that will ensure the health care executives deliver highest quality and performance driven imaging services throughout the healthcare organization. The technology is very cost effective and is meant to ensure patients access to affordable healthcare. Vendor Neutral Archive is another medical imaging technology which is basically used to store images and documents in a standard format (mostly DICOM format) to enable access through vendor-neutral manner by other systems. It is closely related to Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) but there are differences in functions. With healthcare professionals having access to quality and performance driven images, they can make better treatment decisions, better communications with radiologists, and reduction of errors.
Healthcare technologies is fast advancing to ensure better and high quality provision of service. However, as these technologies are being developed, Healthcare professionals need to know that technology is only an enabling environment to deliver services but not an absolute solution. New technologies could have negative effects on the patient’s’ safety when they are unattended or combination of human and technical error. Finally, they must remember that the systems must be integrated with clinical processes and workflow, including proper training to the users to achieve expected objectives.
