Connected Healthcare and its importance in today's world
Time could not have been better for healthcare sector to extend their digital transformation journey to the next level to connected care. In last 12 months, world has changed defining a new way of living called social distancing. And if one has to believe WHO’s ( World Health Organization) recent statement , even though vaccines are out and many millions are already been vaccinated so far , however at the same time with emergence new muted variants. the current pandemic seems still far from over. Meaning with continuous evolution and mutation of virus , one cannot rule out another wave of a different type of such outbreak . That goes to say, world need to take a relook and redefine public healthcare system. As public health is the foundation of social , economic and political stability of a nation .
If there is one thing that is going to change the healthcare sector is an approach of low to no contact, patient care environment. The current and most conventional approach of health care around the world is essentially designed on High Touch, where medical experts and physical healthcare facilities are the key actors, delivering services within silos of care. While many healthcare organizations in West have already embarked into the journey of Connected care and connected telemedicine, but more needs to be accomplished.
The purpose of this discussion is to highlight the importance of connected care and the change that both Govt and private health organizations across the globe needs to adopt. Healthcare is a cascading, multi-factorial, very broad collection of events over a lifetime. However, for countries with higher population density, like India and many 3rd world countries where the ratio of health care professionals to population are much lower, the challenge becomes even bigger. Interestingly though, rapid growth of digital technology with significant adoption of smart phones, social and its adoption across every segment of the population, leveraging the connected eco-system can bridge the gap between care giver and patient by establishing digital connect to a wider mass . Healthcare system needs to reimagine a digitally efficient connected environment where patients should be able to interact with healthcare organizations through multiple channels along various touch points.
We are also witnessing significant change in life style and behavioral events impacting both physical and mental well being across all section of society. Let's take COVID -19 pandemic, as the world is still battling to contain spread of new variant of the virus and speed up inoculation of very citizen, at the same time people n-mass are also getting impacted of their mental health due to this sudden restricted life and social distancing norms, making it difficult for both the patient and the practitioner. And practitioners are unable to keep up with the latest information on best practice for the many conditions their patients have. That's where a Connected Health Care system can become the best enabler.
Connected Health Care is the real-time, electronic communication between a patient and a provider, including telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and secure communication between clinicians and their patients. Healthcare is at a critical juncture. In most cases, we used to only have one option when we became ill and needed medical attention: travel to a doctor or hospital. For people in rural areas, with doctors located several miles away, traveling while ill can be challenging and time-consuming and the situation is even worse under current circumstances. With the advent of Connected healthcare remote home monitoring can be easily possible, and a patient could receive care from the comfort of their homes. Doctors could make recommendations after a short video call, and even submit prescription requests. Using connected healthcare technologies, doctors should be able to attend and help more patients, with more targeted care, and timely interventions. A connected technology environment improves access to care, helps providers and patients avoid costly health care services, reduce travel and increases convenience for patients.
The good news is an effective Connected Healthcare solution is very much attainable in todays world. Thanks to evolution of digital and connected technology, Cloud to make such platform available across multiple channels like mobile & web, with smart integration across video consultations, capturing real-time patient data through smart wearables , hospital robotics and automation to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of remote monitoring and treatments. For example :
- Video streams between patient and the hospital / practitioner to treat them in real-time and can even help in the event of critical emergency or transit, with an integrated connect care to update hospitals to prepare for their arrival.
- Live audio and video chat can also be used for telemedicine, enabling communications between patients at home or in care homes and doctors.
- Smart wearables and IOT embedded prosthetics in replacement joints can enable spontaneous and more timely communications with doctors.
- Robotics and automation can be used to deliver prescriptions and guide patients on an ongoing basis throughout the illness cycle.
In summary, Connected healthcare and telemedicine can help deliver more efficient care, achieve significant savings in acute care services and the incidents of disease management, increase quality of services at scale and deliver patient centred care.
While change in Connected Healthcare is commencing, but both Government and Private healthcare organizations need to expedite by taking a policy and programmatic approach. As the fact is technology and tools are available to connect people, healthcare services and practitioners to save human lives and build a healthy nation