Due to changes in technology, the healthcare industry has seen groundbreaking advancements over the years. Most of these trends have helped both physicians and medical staff provided better healthcare services. Here are some of the top tech trends in healthcare today.
Telemedicine
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In the past, it has been a huge challenge for patients who needed to see a medical specialist but lived in an area 60 miles or more from the nearest doctor. Due to the creation of telemedicine, this is no longer an issue and specialists are now accessible through the Internet.
Telemedicine technology allows a doctor to talk and examine a patient using video conferencing or robotic equipment connected to high-speed Internet. With this technology, patients are able to receive the same type of healthcare at a remote location similar to an on-site doctor’s visit.
Self Check-in Kiosks
One of the first things a patient must do upon arrival to a doctor’s office or hospital is check-in. This step can be very time-consuming, especially since the medical staff must enter all of the information into a system.
By using self check-in kiosks, patients are able to enter all of their medical and insurance information, including signing paperwork and making payments, which can be quickly uploaded directly into the system. This technology helps to reduce the waiting time to see a doctor, eliminate errors, and frees up the staff for other tasks.
Remote Medical Monitoring
Monitoring a patient for medical conditions can take a couple of days or longer. Previously, patients had to make multiple visits to a doctor’s office or check into a hospital for all day testing. Using mobile medical devices, the doctor can now send patients home with equipment that monitors and records their vital signs.
For example, if a person has a heart issue, a cardiologist can bring the patient into his office and attach a mobile heart monitoring machine for a few days or longer. While this patient maintains his or her daily life activities, all of the vital signs are recorded and transmitted for the cardiologist to review.
Mobile Health Apps
There has also been an increase in mobile health development through the creation of medical apps which significantly help areas of health care research such as clinical trials. These healthcare app developers design and create the applications to be compatible across multiple platforms and devices, patients can then store all of their health information into the app allowing doctors to gather up all their data too. This helps to increase patient engagement and ultimately streamlines multiple medical processes
Electronic Medical Files
For years, doctor offices, hospitals, and clinics kept paper medical records for each patient. These files continued to grow, especially if a patient had several medical problems or had been seeing the same doctor for several years. Copies of an entire medical file needed to be made if the patient was transferring to a new doctor or being referred to a specialist.
To help eliminate the need for medical charts, electronic medical files have made it easier to store all of the information needed in an electronic format. Using laptops or other mobile devices such as tablets, the medical staff can now enter your information such as weight, symptoms, and the diagnosis right into the system during your visit.
Online Health Technology
In an effort to keep up with technology , many medical facilities began to look for ways to provide their patients with easier access to their information. This push for change in health technology led to high demands for graduates with degrees in health information management from accredited schools such as UIC Online.
Online health technology has allowed patients to become more active in their own healthcare. By visiting their physician’s or hospital’s website, they are now able to create a secure log-in to view information about their medical records such as test results and send messages directly to the staff. You’re also able to book appointments online now to visit your health specialist, for example, if one wanted to search for std testing near me they could easily do so and book in with their local clinic, and you can even get your results online now too!
Real-time Health Communications
Real-time health communication systems are making their way into the healthcare industry. Due to health policies such as HIPAA, all of the information sent and received through these internal messaging systems has to be secured and kept confidential.
With the implementation of this communication system, physicians and medical staff are able to receive important information faster such as test results via mobile devices such as smartphones.
As you can see, most of these technology trends have provided several benefits within the health community. With new healthcare tech trends being created, you should see continue to see increases in better services in the future.