Introduction: IT-Related Progress in Healthcare
- The incorporation of artificial intelligence helps keep the records of patients, administer drugs in their correct portions, and curb the mixing of drugs menace (Davenport & Kalakota, 2019);
- Patients now can access robot doctors for medical advice;
- Electronic sign-out and hand off tools ensure safety and efficiency of patient’s medical history’s management.
Remote patient monitoring
- A technology that allows patients to be engaged with physicians without being physically close;
- Can be implemented in patients’ homes and phones for close monitoring (Alwashmi, 2020);
- Cost-effective in the long run and has better patient outcomes.
Digital Health Assistants
- Digital health assistants such as Alexa capture and utilize patients’ data through machine learning;
- Can help give quick information when a physician is not around (Vuppalapati et al., 2017);
- Digital assistants help save doctors’ time by providing smart hardware and software.
Data-Driven Healthcare
- Gathers patient data and analyses it with specific algorithms;
- Applicable in consultancy firms to help patients improve their health;
- The technology allows for various options that can be applied, such as health monitoring, disease prevention, and health education.
Benefits of IT Implementation
- Though advances in technology, the healthcare system in the USA is able to manage various types of patients (Langarizadeh et al., 2017);
- The technologies allow patients to be treated depending on the underlying conditions;
- Increased communication helps a patient receive advice from their caregivers, and as a result, a patient has the advantage to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Issues with IT in Healthcare
- Technologies have access to patients’ data, health records, and other valuable information, raising security concerns (Lowery, 2020);
- When a healthcare organization applies electronic patient records, it makes data more vulnerable;
- The potential of data breach is increased, creating new risks.
References
Alwashmi, M. F. (2020). The use of digital health in the detection and management of COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8), 2906.
Davenport, T., & Kalakota, R. (2019). The potential for artificial intelligence in healthcare. Future Healthcare Journal, 6(2), 94.
Langarizadeh, M., Moghbeli, F., & Aliabadi, A. (2017). Application of ethics for providing telemedicine services and information technology. Medical Archives, 71(5), 351.
Lowery, C. (2020). What is digital health and what do I need to know about it? Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics, 47(2), 215–225.
Vuppalapati, J. S., Kedari, S., Ilapakurti, A., Kedari, S., Gudivada, M., & Vuppalapati, C. (2017). The role of Voice Service technologies in creating the next generation outpatient data driven Electronic Health Record (EHR). 2017 Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys), 184–193.