Cutting-edge technology has had a transformational effect on the medicine and healthcare sector in meetings its challenges in the 21st century. Technology has helped numerous healthcare organizations meet the growing demand by operating efficiently to deliver superior patient care. Everything happens at breakneck speed in the healthcare sector, especially when it pertains to change and transformation.
So, you don’t need to apologize for not being up to speed with all the advancements being made in the medicine and healthcare industry. There are so many different technologies to comprehend, and you can’t expect everyone to be aware of how they are shaping the industry. To make things easier for you, we are going to be dichotomizing all the groundbreaking technological trends that are shaping the future of healthcare and medicine in 2020.
1. 5G Technology
As the need for telemedicine and its capacity to allow healthcare centers to provide care in under-served or remote areas increase, it has become imperative that the speed and quality of network aren’t compromised for higher standards of service and better outcomes. The solution comes in the form of 5G networks that can better support healthcare organizations by allowing easier transmission of large image files for specialists to review and advise on care.
These 5G networks also allow easier implementation and integration of the Internet of Things and AI, while improving the ability of a doctor to deliver treatments through VR, AR, and mixed reality. Doctors can also manage reliable and remote monitoring of patients.
2. Extended Reality (Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality)
Extended reality isn’t primarily meant for use in the entertainment industry and has also proven to be incredibly useful in the healthcare industry. It has been predicted that the VR/AR healthcare market is expected to grow to around $5.1 billion by 2025. By that time, it may well be used for training and surgery simulation and will also play a crucial role in patient care and treatment.
Virtual reality has already made a big impact as it has helped patients with autism, cancer, depression, and visual impairment. Augmented reality offers another support layer for healthcare practitioners by helping physicians reconnect blood vessels during brain surgery. In mixed reality, the real and virtual worlds are intertwined, which allows it to be used for educational capabilities for medical professionals and helps patients understand their treatment plans or conditions.
3. Robotics
Would you ever trust a robot to do the right thing if it is a matter of life and death? Currently, collaborative robots, like the da Vinci surgical robot, are already helping humans with various tasks in the operating room. Meanwhile, there is potential for using robots in healthcare beyond surgical use, and while the industry is expected to expand exponentially, with the global medical robotics market expected to top $20 billion by 2023, there’s no doubt that robots are going to be heavily used in healthcare to conduct various tasks.
They will not only help doctors treat and examine areas in rural areas through ‘telepresence’, disinfecting hospital rooms, transporting medical supplies, packaging medical devices, automating labs, and helping patients with prosthetics or rehabilitation. There is a lot of promise in medical robots, which includes a micro-bot that targets therapy to a specific body part, like clearing bacterial infections or radiation to a tumor.
4. 3D Printing
No one can deny that 3D printing hasn’t had a big impact on every industry, and it’s transformed the healthcare and medicine industry as well. The technology has proven to be revolutionary as it has enabled manufacturing, research, customization, and prototyping for healthcare. Now, surgeons can replicate patient-specific organs through 3D printing to prepare for procedures, while most surgical tools and medical devices can be 3D printed.
That makes it cost-effective for medical departments to develop organs for transplant, print tissues, and comfortable prosthetics for patients. With so much potential and so much to offer, it’s not a surprise to learn that 3D printing is already being used extensively in orthodontics and dentistry.
5. Machine Learning and AI
The world population will continue growing and reach unprecedented levels by the end of the next decade, and with it will come the age of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The technology has proven to be instrumental in offering newer and better ways to create efficiencies in clinical trials and medical research, monitor health epidemics, diagnose conditions, identify diseases, and crowdsource and develop treatment plans while making operations more efficient to handle the growing demands on the healthcare system.
It’s estimated that by 2020, medical data is going to be doubling every 2.5 months, and McKinsey reveals in a report that medicine and pharma could save $100 billion annually by leaning on big data and using machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to process it. Artificial Intelligence algorithms that have been powered by modern advances in computational power learn from this data and predict the probability of a condition, which helps doctors create treatment plans and provide a diagnosis.
Machine learning and AI can help with most of the clinical problems faced in the healthcare and medicine industry if the regulatory and governing bodies determine how best to use algorithms in healthcare.
6. Wearable Tech
Wearable fitness technology can offer you much more than how many steps you have walked in a single day. Nowadays, more than 80% of people are willing to wear wearable tech, and this presents a tremendous opportunity for using these devices in healthcare. Smartwatches can not only track your steps but also monitor heart rhythms as well.
ECG monitors are another form of wearable tech that detects atrial fibrillation and sends reports to blood pressure monitors, your doctor, while self-adhesive biosensor patches will track your heart rate and body temperature. Wearable tech is predicted to have a big future as it helps consumers get proactive health support if they notice any anomalies in their trackers.
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact