Healthcare 4.0 has taken inspiration from the expansion of Industrial Revolution 4.0 where the workflows of conducting business and serving end-customers have been defined in diversified industries through technological advancements.
The aim is to build a strategy for the industries so that they can directly evolve from manufacturers to service providers. The evolution is streamlined to allow the services availed by the customers to be customized as per their needs and easiness.
Healthcare 4.0 is empowered to correlate the patients and healthcare providers with the organization, the methodology of treatment, and the technology adopted. This concept is heading to transform into a patient-oriented methodology where the data redeemed can be disclosed to industry players so that they can come up with better technology and healthcare delivery concepts.
The 4.0 evolution is expected to curb the challenge of innovation and introduce healthcare delivery in a more focused manner. It intends to center the patient-orientation and personal care service actively with the latest technology. Research fields across the globe such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics, information security, etc., are involved closely to link the medical delivery with precise medicines and lifestyle-based approach for patient attendance and treatment.
In this article, we will explore the innovations that are under the development stage of the research fields and how they impact Healthcare 4.0.
Impact of Industrial 4.0 in Healthcare
Healthcare 4.0 is witnessing technological breakthroughs and advances in the medical field to entice patient-centric treatment and medications. It is undergoing digital transformation where the patient’s data will be technologically recorded and used by the technology players to understand and come up with a better diagnosis in order to replace the current treatment method in a patient-centric model.
With the latest study and advancement in biology and technology, the innovation can ease the methods doctors use to treat chronic patients. Healthcare 4.0 is all set to offer personalized treatment, treat symptoms faster and monitor the health of the patients minutely in real-time.
The health care advancements in the industrial revolution will bring the following benefits:
- Adaptation of patient-centric model
- Digitization of medical records
- Development of biometric technology
- Personalized treatment
- Real-time patient monitoring
- Effective medication and diagnoses
What are the latest trends in Healthcare 4.0?
1. Healthcare responsiveness through IoT Technology
Healthcare 4.0 is focused on monitoring the technological advancements that can provide consistent data of patients vital for effective medication. This highlights the requirements of equipment such as sensors, monitors, and other tools that record and display the data. IoT is beginning to become a new trend in healthcare technology. Earlier it was used just for electronic equipment and appliances that make a consumer’s lifestyle durable but now it helps monitor the patient’s vitals more closely and has introduced a customer-centric model for diagnosis.
Connecting the medical domains to technological devices allows the healthcare workers to introduce a better way of treatment with precision. Equipment such as pulsometers and wearable devices are playing a vital role in pushing the self-care of patients in an easy manner. The IoT devices not only record the data but also transmit it for evaluation and effective medication that is allowing healthcare providers a better reflection of different healthcare applications and diagnosis. Additionally, tools like a drug comparison tool can help in evaluating and comparing medication options to ensure optimal treatment.
2. Exploration through Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality has contributed in a glorious manner when it comes to advancement in healthcare technology during the healthcare 4.0 evolution. With the scope of making patient’s treatment moments easier, the wearable technology headset of VR allows the patient to explore the unexplored segment virtually and let them vanish from the monotonous wall of the hospital during the span they use the technology.
VR has also shown proven pain relief effectiveness apart from just creating an escaping route for patients. The application of VR as technology has reflected proven vitals improvement in pain chronic patients whose study and data have helped the doctors to come up with a diagnosis plan for similar patients thereafter.
Not only this, by giving heed to self-care through home remedies and virtual treatment, patients can easily order a VR headset from commercial platforms and can observe the pain-relief strategy as same as the hospital environment.
VR has also transformed the practical studies and observation skills for doctors and medical aspirants. They are able to explore medical studies with minimal risks and opportunities of making mistakes that they can’t undo.
3. Communication through AI
The adaptation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more personalized and advanced with circumstance-based scenarios each day. The implementation of AI is playing a pivotal role in making the patient’s diagnosis more clearer by allowing them to communicate their mind space that can keep them content and safe while getting treatment. AI is revolutionizing the healthcare domain by making the doctors stay focused on the utmost patient’s care and needs without getting diverted due to multiple priorities of the same patients.
AI-based chatbots are contributing to understanding the patient’s mind through several predetermined sets of questions and its responsive data for a more effective plan of treatment. The patients can screen diagnose-based questions and select the best options as what they feel without biases or judgment. This method proves to be a courteous and effective communication tool that provides effective diagnosis to the patients by identifying their closest needs.
If we measure the length of future technological advancements, the installation of AI-based robots can play a similar yet more advanced role in any patient’s life. Such roles can be of caretakers and can serve some basic duties of assistance to the doctors so that they can focus majorly on the center of serving and medicating patients efficiently.
4. Re-doing the dining experience of patients
Every patient who stays in the hospital for more than a day knows this common routine – eating at a definite hour. Different people have different times of consuming their meals and it becomes frustrating to not get routine meals as per time preferences. This creates a room of disliking for all the patients under the roof. Advancements in the healthcare software and the broader healthcare domain seek to implement advanced technology to cater to and understand the patient’s preferences of eating and when or how they are comfortable to be served.
Marching towards diminishing the concerns, most of the healthcare players have started growing produce to provide fresh meals and cut off as many poultry products as possible. The hospitals can leverage the IoT to automate produce operations and mitigate the costs of hiring a gardener crew as a whole.
5. A virtual treatment is a new treatment
The adoption of IoT devices in healthcare such as wearable fitness bands, pulsometer, digital thermometer, and any such similar health equipment are glorifying the steps of self-health care for individuals. These devices are allowing the users to measure their respective health vitals, record them and share them with the doctor at the time of requirement of immediate diagnosis.
This methodology indicates the elimination of the physical hospital spaces for routine or fewer symptoms patient check-ups. This will impact the later infrastructure or remodeling of the present hospital spaces with more priority and patient-centric checkups.
MDM solutions like Scalefusion can play a major role in smart Kiosks as a technological adaptation. It can streamline healthcare services by deploying a fleet of hospital-owned health-monitoring Kiosks as infrastructures. These healthcare Kiosks can play a vital role by deploying numerous devices of healthcare monitoring systems to be monitored through a single dashboard and act as a monitoring station for the healthcare domain.
What challenges should be embraced for Healthcare 4.0?
1. Data collection and privacy
The adaptation and implementation of effective technology to address the medical needs of the patients fully rely on the data collected. All the data that is collected by the healthcare domain is further analyzed by the healthcare players who then innovate customer-centric technology models that can ease the healthcare model being followed. The major challenge that has surfaced in the air is the availability of accurate data and the security of its privacy.
2. Accuracy of Models
Since the data collected from the healthcare domains is processed by the healthcare players, they apply certain models, formulations, and practices to a different set of concerns. By recording new data, the healthcare players can develop an improved diagnosis model and replace them with the less-effective practice for better treatment of patients. Now, the complexity arises since the data collected and implemented may not be 100% accurate and that creates certain shifts in the probable models resulting in unfavorable outcomes. Without an adequate collection of data and research, it is imperative to come up with a preliminary model to understand the bridge of methodological feasibility but yet the challenge remains.
3. Dissimilar dynamics
Most of the healthcare models used for the assessment of data and coming up with an innovative solution by the healthcare players deal with the observation of slow testing or show results in long-term usage behavior when applied to the patients. The hurdle of slow observation towards collecting data can never be possible with the patients needing immediate medical attention. 4Focusing on patient safety to assess the probability of the outcome can be a long-term procedure and can produce a different set of observations for each patient. Introducing an innovation that produces real-time results with probable behavior outcomes can mitigate the challenge of time dynamics. However, the challenge remains due to the lack of such technology that produces a small probability of error with guaranteed accuracy.
Closing lines…
The latest industrial revolution and the healthcare evolution to 4.0 might sound promising with all the latest technologies. However, managing, securing, and monitoring the device fleets with reliable and efficient technology in healthcare can be an upcoming challenge.
This is where the role of MDM in healthcare can fall into place. With the Scalefusion MDM solution platform, the technological sensors, and the monitoring devices along with electronic vital machines could be administered and monitored under a single console. With the ease of transforming the devices into smart Kiosks, the marching of the mission towards becoming patient-centric could be attained. The doctors, without any distractions, can attend to the patient’s needs while the devices perform their role of acting Kiosks.
