Technology has featured so far in many niches of life today, including finance, Music, Education, and many others, among the segments in the health sector where digital health technologies are staging top-notch differences.
What is Digital Health?
It appears from the two words “digital” and “health.” Digital health is a broad, multidisciplinary concept encompassing ideas from the intersection of technology and healthcare.
In the face of global concerns about aging, child illness and death, epidemics and pandemics, high prices, and the consequences of poverty and racial prejudice on access to healthcare, health systems, and related technology are becoming increasingly important and evolving. In today’s healthcare, digital healthcare is becoming increasingly crucial.
Some Of The Digital Health Technologies
Many digital techs have been circulating the health segment inclined toward improving the patient’s health and providing adequate health services. Below are some of the trending digital health technologies:
Telemedicine
There are numerous definitions for the term “telemedicine.” Nonetheless, the importance of digital health technology can be understood simply by looking at WHO’s broad definition of telemedicine, which is “the delivery of health care services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and continuing education of health care providers.”
Telemedicine has evolved remarkably, supported by secure image sharing solutions like CryptoChart by Novarad. This advancement aligns with WHO’s definition of telemedicine as healthcare delivery through technology, emphasizing the role of secure platforms for accurate diagnosis, treatment, and information exchange among healthcare professionals.
In the long run, telemedicine can help doctor-patient encounters by providing healthcare providers with case-based learning opportunities that they can apply to the treatment of future patients. Virtual appointments between patients and doctors are among the best instances of telehealth technology. Virtual appointments help people speak with doctors in remote or rural locations where access to healthcare is limited.
Blockchain
Blockchain has recently been used in various industries, including finance, music, solar technology, agriculture, and the traditional places where you can buy Dogecoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and other cryptocurrencies. Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym, must have seen a world where blockchain thrives in finance to eliminate central authority’s influence through decentralization and the rise of cryptocurrency, a digital currency, beginning with Bitcoin.
Blockchain has recently gained traction in the medical field. Blockchain, a digital ledger with qualities such as transparency, decentralization, security, and the elimination of mediators, has numerous applications and uses in healthcare.
The safety and security that blockchain provides have been a fundamental pillar for its use in the health sector, particularly regarding patient medical data. Among other things, ledger technology allows the secure transfer of patient medical records and drug supply chain management. Estonia, which began adopting blockchain in 2012, uses it to support its healthcare services.
The safety and security that blockchain provides have been a fundamental pillar for its use in the health sector, particularly regarding patient medical data. Among other things, ledger technology allows the secure transfer of patient medical records and drug supply chain management. At the same time, data analysis can be carried out with the help of web3 analytics. Estonia, which began adopting blockchain in 2012, uses it to support its healthcare services.
The country’s healthcare billing is handled on a blockchain, 95 percent of health data is ledger-based, and 99 percent of all prescription information is digital. Akira, BurstIQ, Factom, MedicalChain, ProCredEx, Avaneer, and other healthcare startups that use blockchain technology.
Virtual Reality
“People think of virtual reality as a gaming technology,” says Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Cedars-director of Sinai’s health services research. However, computer-generated interactive, immersive environments, usually accessed via a headset and occasionally hand controls, are also employed in medicine. If you are wondering about what’s the best VR headset for health? Oculus Quest 2 portability, inside-out tracking, and affordable price made it popular for fitness and health-focused VR experiences. Quest 2’s hand-tracking capabilities also opened up opportunities for gesture-based physical therapy and rehabilitation applications.
Virtual reality is blooming in the clinic and hospital rooms, and it is projected to continue to increase in the future years. According to GlobeNewswire’s analysis, the market for virtual reality in healthcare is expected to reach $7 billion by 2026. One of the most common uses of virtual reality is pain relief.
Besides pain management, academics and physicians are looking into using virtual reality for everything from phobia treatment to physical rehabilitation. Neuro Rehab VR, a top provider in the physical treatment field, has pioneered a gamified approach to physical rehabilitation.
The clinical case of Harmon Clarke, a patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who has Crohn’s disease and the pain-administered VR technology during his treatments, was reported on health.usnews.com. He says, “They said it could help me manage my symptoms, feel better, and sleep.” Clarke continued to wear the headset during his hospital stay to assist him in sleep, during IV insertions, and to cope with post-surgical pain. “It didn’t make the anguish go away,” he recalls, “but it made those moments more livable.”
Internet of Things (IoT)
Medical diagnostic and treatment plans have a long way to go regarding data collection accuracy. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been a game-changer for digital health technologies. IoT-enabled devices enable remote monitoring in the healthcare industry, unlocking the potential to keep patients healthy and safe while allowing physicians to provide better care.
Patients’ data can be collected within range or at a distance from healthcare facilities. Both patients and physicians, as well as hospitals and clinics, benefit from IoT services. Data collected from IoT devices can assist clinicians in determining the optimal treatment method for their patients and achieving the desired results.
Many elderly patients’ data and medical equipment tracking in hospitals and clinics may be tracked remotely using IoT-enabled devices. The level of accuracy when it comes to patients’ data collection cannot be overemphasized.
Artificial intelligence, big data, and other developments are among the digital health technologies not confined to the trends above.
