The popular quote “impossible means nothing” seems to be the best way to describe the tremendous breakthroughs the advancement in technology has brought to the fore across numerous industries, healthcare inclusive.
Just a few years ago, things that would otherwise have been seen as fiction are now the realities of today. For instance, who would have thought a single equipment could allow for one to view/know the sex of babies even before they were born!
According to a research by the University of Chicago, it is projected that the healthcare industry will see a 21% increase in IT jobs.
Attributable to these, are the ever-growing demand for the use of more innovative and technological driven ways to solve health-related issues such as the use of health informatics, mobile technology and digital diagnostics in the healthcare sector.
Undoubtedly, it is more certain that technology would force a shift in the way healthcare services will be rendered in the next 10years.
To help provide more insight, below are some of the types of technology that will further change the course of health care and the health industry at large.
- Wearables: The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved a pill with a sensor that transfers messages to a wearable patch when the pill is ingested. With these patients can effectively manage and track medications on a smartphone as the patch transmits signals to a mobile application on the smartphone.
- Drones: Records show that in 2016, a partnership between the Rwandan government and Zipline was initiated to convey medical supplies via drones to hospitals as it drastically reduced the time cycle that would otherwise have been longer if drones were not used.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is currently being used for diagnostic imaging, to detect the spread of cancer, monitor patients remotely etc. More interestingly, a group of Stanford researchers in November 2017 also announced the successful development of deep-learning algorithms that outperform human radiologist at diagnosing pneumonia.
- Robotics: An example is the Da Vinci robot which has shown better abilities to manipulate surgical instruments than the human hand. Robotics, as compared to other technology types, is shown to have more disruptive potentials in the healthcare sector as they “can change the scale, reproducibility and location of care delivery.”
- Blockchain: at the outset blockchain was primarily developed for cryptocurrency, however, with traits such as the decentralized digital ledger that it provides, blockchain can also disrupt medicine. It is believed to have potential value for clinical trials, medical billing, pharmaceutical supply and many more.
- 3-D printing: it has shown possibilities in tissue engineering to regenerate damaged human tissues. It also has the potentials to change the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and inorganic devices.
