It’s safe to say that COVID-19 has completely changed the medical and healthcare world, but if anything it showed how much innovation can come out of the industry. As we have had to adapt, certain technologies have shined and become leaders in this era of medicine. We have 5 predictions on which technologies will boom post-pandemic, let’s get into them!
1) Telemedicine
The evolution of medicine went from house calls to doctors’ offices being all over the place in cities and that seemed to be the norm. But then COVID-19 hit and telemedicine visits skyrocketed from being 1% of appointments to 69%. It provided a safe way for patients to still get stellar care and be safe at the same time. It provided a new perspective for medicine and showed that telemedicine is convenient and still effective. Post-pandemic, it seems like it will stay an essential part of medicine and will become a more adopted practice.
2) Drug Development
We saw multiple vaccines develop at a crazy fast rate under “Operation Warp Speed” as COVID-19 ravaged the globe. Scientists created an innovative vaccine that created antibodies and will lead to immunity. Because of the technology used to create this vaccine, if the virus strains prove to alter the success of the current vaccine, scientists can go back and alter the composition of the vaccine and modify the injected mRNA to protect against that different strain. It’s amazing!
3) Data Analytics
COVID-19 shined a light on chronic disease in the United States, with a majority of people who’ve died from the virus had one or multiple chronic diseases. Diabetes and heart disease was used to be seen as something we just lived with, but now chronic diseases like this have a different perspective on them. This is where technology comes in. Hypertension is the #1 cause of stroke and kidney failure, doctors are able to help 90% of patients with these problems and reduce the chances of it becoming a life-threatening condition. The most effective way these types of diseases have been treated is with prevention and optimal disease management, both facilitated by comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs) and are driven by evidence-based treatment algorithms. Each patient gets a clear path of treatment for each patient.
4) Patient Decision Tools
Each patient is different and requires a unique path of treatment. Two people could have the same condition and start out on the same dosage of medicine, but a year later one patient could still be stable on that medicine while it could stop working for the other. This next generation of technology will be able to compare a patient’s data with the most up-to-date treatment and tell patients if they don’t need to see a doctor or if they should. These systems are predicted to boom in the future as the quality and demand for them increase.
5) Artificial Intelligence
Once again, artificial intelligence is making its debut, talked about as the game-changer in the healthcare world. AI can help address each patient individually and treat each case equally. AI can help take care of finding a treatment path and predict possible outcomes and complications. Artificial intelligence still has a long way to go, but its future is bright!
All these technologies will advance the healthcare industry overall and be able to provide cost-effective solutions that will increase the quality of patient care. All eyes are on healthcare and medicine these days and it seems like we will continue to advance through these challenging times. Stay safe!
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