Healthcare digitalization and the rise of virtual care

Virtual healthcare: here to stay??

The uptake of digital technologies within healthcare is not new. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to adapt many aspects of day-to-day life, the implementation of digitalized interventions by overstretched healthcare systems around the globe occurred at a rapid pace.??

Healthcare digitalization and the rise of virtual care help alleviate the patient burden and reduce the spread of infection. This not only benefitted patients during the pandemic but also resulted in an unprecedented spike in the global digital health market in 2021, which is forecast to continue rising exponentially over the coming years1.??

But even in the absence of crisis-lead adaptations and strategies, your hospital organization and patients can continue to benefit from digitalized healthcare.??

Going virtual to improve patient experience and engagement?

Virtual healthcare comprises technologies for remote patient communication, education, diagnosis and monitoring, and also includes digital technologies for clinical information exchange and administrative/operational functions. For instance, video calling and audio and instant messaging services are not only more frequent in our everyday lives, they have also been adopted throughout healthcare. These technologies enable faster, easier and more frequent communication between patients and clinicians – reducing the need to travel to appointments. With many of these services available 24/7 and offering very short wait times, this option can be incredibly appealing for patients.?

As virtual healthcare increases, so does the demand for patients to feel more informed. For this reason, the Olympus team, in partnership with a pilot customer in Italy, is developing an automated online communication platform to answer patient questions about procedures in real-time. Powered by AI (artificial intelligence), the platform uses NLP (natural language processing) and machine learning to provide a human-like conversational experience. This virtual assistant presents up-to-date information in a visually appealing and well-communicated format to enable patients to be better prepared for their visit and help to decrease the number of rescheduled appointments. The hope is that digital communication tools such as this can educate and inform in a cost-efficient manner to free up nurses for more vital hospital tasks.?

Digitalization to simplify collaboration, administration and operations??

The benefits of digitalization can extend through every aspect of a hospital organization – from clinical collaboration to administration. While storing, organizing, and linking patient records in understandable formats with simple access for colleagues throughout the organization is critical, collaboration is also vital.??

For example, the collaboration between clinicians is often essential to connect multi-disciplinary teams and experts to help improve patient outcomes and efficiency. Medical virtual presence software, such as MedPresence from Olympus, supports remote collaboration with a secure platform to share sensitive information via combined video, audio and image sharing software.??

Summary?

The emergence of new digital technologies continues to boost efficiency while improving patient outcomes and experience.??

The advantages of going digital are clear, and the expansion of virtual healthcare will help hospital organizations become more efficient and accessible while patients may become more informed at the same time. But how fast can these technologies be adopted to bring benefits to patients and hospital organizations? And should we be wary of moving too quickly too soon when it comes to digitalization????

For more information on healthcare digitalization, see our stories hub.

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References?

1. Digital Health – Global Market Trajectory & Analytics. Research & Markets. (2021)?

https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5028020/digital-health-global-market-trajectory-and??