Last updated on April 19th, 2024 at 04:27 pm
Healthcare is one of the industries that has changed the most because of the global pandemic, but many other industries have changed too. People still think about COVID-19 even though it was a long time ago. Health care has changed a lot over the last few years because of new technology and methods that make it easier for people to get the care they need and to store their health information digitally, but it still provides the same high-quality service.
The rise in new technologies paved the way for further advancements in the healthcare sector. This mainly includes treating more patients and making information-based diagnoses, and including technology that improves people’s lives from afar. Here, we’ll cover current tech developments and upcoming technologies that will significantly impact healthcare delivery in the years to come, so read on for more information.
In addition to Covid-19-related technology breakthroughs in healthcare, technology in other areas of healthcare, such as disease diagnosis, early identification of genetic diseases, and more, are rapidly improving.
What are some emerging technologies in healthcare?
People, doctors, and health organizations like hospitals and research centers use healthcare technology such as home health care software and wearable biosensors. These digital or software tools help and support people and groups in many ways. This blog will talk about the top 6 health tech trends in 2022.
People and businesses will be able to use many new health technologies in 2022 when the internet and technology are snowballing.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare
There have been a lot of people talking about artificial intelligence as a good thing in 2022, especially in the field of health care.
AI’s role against covid-19
Because of cutting-edge technology, we have been able to stay on top of the global pandemic. A Canadian corporation based in Toronto could foresee the spread of COVID-19 over the globe. Their tool, BlueDot, may detect dangerous breakouts in near real-time by analyzing 100,000 media sources in more than 65 different languages every day.
As vaccines were made, machine learning helped a lot as well. COVID-19 vaccines have been made faster because machine learning helped them find protein fragments.
AI has also been helpful when it comes to analyzing crowd data. Because of this, thermal screening is now a much better way to find people who might be displaying signs of the illness. Even if someone is wearing a face mask, AI-powered facial recognition has made it possible to identify them even if they are. When it comes to places where it’s required, it can also determine if the person has a mask on.
AI in diagnosis & drug development
Artificial intelligence can be used for many things unrelated to the pandemic. AI is a massive help for speeding up information processing and making decisions. Machine learning is essential to developing new medicines and the speed of diagnosis processes in the healthcare industry.
For people who have COVID-19 and are getting treatment, AI is helping to look at CT scans to see if they have pneumonia. Microsoft made Project InnerEye, an AI tool for radiotherapy. The patient’s 3D contouring process can now be completed in minutes rather than hours, thanks to this high-speed method of 3D modeling. You can find the same project on GitHub.
In addition to Project Hanover, another AI system from Microsoft is Hanover. It is meant to catalog biomedical research from PubMed. This shortens the time it takes to find out if someone has cancer and helps doctors figure out which drugs to use for each person.
AI in mental health
Artificial intelligence doesn’t just help people with their physical health. When it comes to mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University have used machine learning.
They used an AI model to look at many messages on Reddit (Netreputation Reddit Reviews) and found that the number of people talking about suicidality and loneliness had almost doubled. These findings could profoundly impact our understanding of the mental health issues that affect huge groups.
Natural language processing
There is a chance that chatbots could make telemedicine more efficient. UCLA researchers used chatbots and AI systems to create a Virtual Interventional Radiologist. This was meant to help patients determine what was wrong with them and help doctors figure out what to do.
Chatbots that use Natural Language Processing aren’t ready to make the first diagnosis, but they can help with the process. Furthermore, they have the tools necessary to help collect data from patients before they begin receiving adequate treatment.
The key to AI in healthcare: data
Data is essential that artificial intelligence can help people in healthcare. Training data is a more specific example. Machine-learning software can’t do better than the quality of the data it learned from.
How well and how much data we give to our model is how well and how much it will do. For your AI project to be successful, your team must consist of skilled software developers and data scientists who can collaborate effectively to achieve the best outcomes.
2. Nanomedicine
The nanomedicine industry has a lot of potentials and is looking for people who want to get in early. In the beginning, this may have seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. But nanotechnology is slowly making its way into our everyday lives.
By the end of 2021, people worldwide were excited to hear that scientists had made tiny organic robots (called xenobiotics) that could make more of them on their own. So it’s safe to say that nanomedicine will be a lot more exciting in 2022.
You might be wondering what nanomedicine is. It’s all about using nanoscale materials and objects, like biocompatible nanoparticles, nanoelectronic gadgets, or even nanorobots, for specific medical purposes and manipulations, like the diagnosis or treatment of living things.
It could be used to look for cancer cells or viruses, which would require nanorobots to be injected into the blood vessels of people who want to find these things.
This method is projected to effectively treat numerous hereditary, oncologic, or auto-immune illnesses at the cellular level, including cancers, arthritis, and other conditions (or even become an ultimate solution to them).
3. Remote Healthcare
Telehealth is another name for “remote health.” People worldwide use telehealth as one of the most recent ways to get medical help.
Because of telehealth, you don’t even have to leave your house to see your doctor. This is great for older people who live in remote areas and more.
Patients and doctors can communicate via videoconference or other streaming services via the internet in telemedicine.
Suppose you want to get help with your health; there are many apps. Several apps allow you to schedule appointments, speak with a doctor, record your medication use, etc.
Aside from talking with someone, there are many other ways that telehealth can help people.
- Location services
- Visit history
- Medical records
- Messaging with the patients
- Emergency care
- Obtaining reports based on a specific time frame, such as monthly or annual reports
The doctor will be able to keep track of their patients’ activities and provide the services they need when they need them. Telehealth also cuts down on the time and money it takes to go to the hospital and get there.
According to recent research, approximately 60% of people over 65 in the United States are open to receiving long-term medical treatment digitally. Also, many people will want to use telehealth, and it’s thought that the industry will reach 186 billion dollars.
Also, telehealth is suitable for clinical trials where many people participate. The companies that run clinical trials use telehealth to keep track of patient’s medical information, talk to them, and look at their data.
To connect with patients in clinical trials, many pharmaceutical companies use apps and software that help them stay in touch with them, and the demand grows every year.
4. Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)
Devices, software, and hardware used for medical purposes are called “medical things.” When connected to the internet, the same is called “the internet of medical things.”
A vast number of medical equipment can be connected to the internet so that an enormous amount of data can be transmitted and stored.
Many data can help determine long-term or emergency problems before they worsen.
There is also the possibility of it, such as intelligent robot nurses already being used in Italian hospitals to monitor patients’ blood pressure and oxygen saturation levels during medical emergencies.
There are about 500,000 IoMT devices available, according to Deloitte; some examples include the following:
- Smart beds
- Smart wearables
- Automated temperature readers
- Smart pills – Ingestible sensors or cameras
- Internet-connected inhaler delivery systems
Experts think it will be worth $1319 billion by 2026, which is a lot of money!
So, it is one of the best and most exciting things that will happen in the future regarding health technology.
5. Virtual reality and Augmented reality
People can use AR and VR
When it comes to supporting healthcare workers in many different ways, virtual reality and virtual reality-augmented reality can be highly beneficial.
Remote operating with both hands is now possible thanks to VR/AR tools like Microsoft Hololens. Other doctors can even use the virtual reality headset to provide vital input during the procedure.
Doctors use augmented reality to practice more and be more accurate. It gives them the same experience as if they were there. They also help nurses find the veins they need to draw blood from, which allows them to do their job.
In the middle of a procedure, a surgeon can receive messages from other patients and respond to them using voice instructions without interrupting the operation.
AI makes the AR experience better, but it takes a lot of experience with both software and hardware to earn. As a result of the benefits, more and more companies are using augmented and virtual reality in the health care industry.
By 2023, the augmented and virtual reality market is expected to reach $4997 million.
6. Wearables in Healthcare
As wearable technology continues to progress, it has the potential to have a significant impact on the healthcare business. The ability to see how a patient is doing all day is essential. In a survey by Deloitte, it was found that 39% of people had a smartwatch. With smartwatches becoming more common for people to buy, their potential for use in healthcare should be noted.
In terms of monitoring a person’s health, a wearable device’s heart rate is one of the most fundamental features. The smartwatch can also measure other things, but this isn’t the only thing it can do. These gadgets can also monitor physical health, including pedometers and blood oxygen saturation monitors.
When your blood oxygen levels are low, it is hard to tell unless you have a unique set of sensors that can look for these things. A smartwatch with this sensor may be able to save lives because this is a life-threatening condition.
It’s also getting better for smartwatches to read their users’ blood pressure and heart rate. It’s called photoplethysmography (PPG), and it’s a way to look at how blood changes in volume and composition. Its small size can give people more information about their blood pressure than ever before. Patients and doctors can use this information to get advice and ensure they get the best care.
In the healthcare field, smartwatches aren’t the only type of wearable that could be useful. Biopatch technology and intelligent hearing aids have comparable levels of impact. Bio patches can help people learn more about their vitals without using a smartwatch. If you have hearing aids, you can also use artificial intelligence to make them more effective at blocking out background noise.
Future of Healthcare Technology
Health care technology will keep getting better as 2022 goes by. And health care apps are on the rise as well. Thanks to new and cutting-edge technologies like AI, machine learning, and extended reality, the quality, and efficiency of care will keep getting better. Preventing threats rather than dealing with them after they happen is the best way to keep your business safe.
Time and money are at stake when you decide how to modernize your healthcare business. You must work with the best software development companies that clearly understand your goals and requirements.
Nishanth is a Startup Specialist working at NeoITO – a reliable Software Development Company based in the USA. He is an avid reader, writer, and works closely with entrepreneurs to stay updated on the latest.