Innovations in technology and digitalization have revolutionized the healthcare domain like never before. In addition, COVID-19 has played a major role in accelerating its adoption and usage. Both patients and doctors have benefited from remote monitoring, teleconsultation, electronic medical records, and electronic health records. Doctors are able to provide instant guidance, feedback, and support to their patients through it.
AI and Machine Learning are assisting healthcare professionals in detecting, managing, and curing disease. Among the innovations of this domain are sensor-based medical devices.
There are many ways in which technology is benefiting the healthcare industry.
Early and accurate diagnosis
AI assists physicians in diagnosing patients accurately, referring specific therapies and forecasting risks. Before the advent of technology, false diagnoses have been caused by human error. With the technology, the problem has been eliminated by instant and accurate diagnosis. AI applications are used in oncology to detect cancers, machine vision applications helps pathologist to identify disease in bloody tissues, facial recognition helps match phenotypes correlation with certain rare diseases.
Portable Medical Device
AI technology adoption is also happening in the medical device industry, and it’s not just driving exciting new features and high-end functionalities into the devices themselves, but also enabling manufacturers to reap the rewards from new service models in which, instead of just selling and supporting devices, they can capture recurring service revenue streams, while at the same time strengthen customer relationships. The use of ML and AI inference in medical applications has the ability to transform modern healthcare and save many lives. There have been numerous portable devices in the market that helps in regular monitoring of the health of an individual without causing any discomfort. Some of the devices that have attracted eyeballs are portable ECG Devices, glucometer and blood pressure monitors.
Improved Patient Experience
Patient experience has been improved by the ease of booking appointments through telemedicine. In addition, AI can be utilized to develop a patient service model that would result in reduced costs, more efficient treatment, and a better patient experience. The satisfaction of patients is a top priority for most healthcare professionals. With Machine Learning and AI, researchers can scan patient data instantly to provide information that can be used to develop new cures for diseases.
Robotic assistance
A variety of complex procedures have been assisted by AI-enabled robots. To accomplish the desired procedures, their bodies are equipped with mechanical arms and cameras.
Essentially, they are designed to reach every part of the body. With robotic surgery, patients are able to endure less pain, recover faster, and take less time to recover.
Smooth Workflow
The EHR and EMR are both considered to be effective in streamlining healthcare data while enabling physicians to concentrate on patient care. It provides ease in accessing all patient related information at a glance. Earlier the data was extracted manually, making the process more cumbersome. AI in EHR and EMR helps in extracting patient data from structured and unstructured sources thus saving a lot of efforts, time and cost.
With a dynamic changing environment, technology is bringing greater breakthrough across healthcare. The motto ‘Healthcare for All’ will be achieved if AI and ML can be effectively and efficiently utilized to attain the desired results. In addition to imaging, AI is also being immensely used by doctors and patients to store patient data. Furthermore, many initiatives by the Government of India such as National Digital Health Mission, Aayushman Bharat and eSanjeevani also focus on providing easy accessibility and affordability of healthcare to the masses.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
