Virtual Healthcare- Digital Twin

Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare centers were thronged with in-person consultations worldwide. The onset of the pandemic led to lockdowns to reduce disease transmission, bringing the world to a grinding halt. However, the healthcare sector’s exponential dependency on technology has revolutionized and fostered virtual healthcare as a digital twin.?

Virtual healthcare is any form of medical or health consultation that takes place remotely using current communication technologies and applications as opposed to in-person consultations. The three main pillars of virtual healthcare are electronic health records (EHR), digital applications, and virtual visits. Patients can schedule virtual visits online and engage in secure digital communication instead of in-person visit to a hospital. These include live video chats, phone calls, emails, and instant messages. EHR are crucial for maintaining online health records online, improving the efficiency of healthcare systems, reducing the amount of time spent on hospital grounds, and decentralizing care.?

What are the components of virtual health??

Telemedicine, digital therapeutics, and care navigation are the three main components of virtual healthcare.?

Telemedicine?

Telemedicine allows the treatment of a wide range of medical disorders without face-to-face encounters. There are two main subcategories of telemedicine-synchronous and-asynchronous models.??

?Synchronous models enable real-time consultation and communication between patients and doctors via a telemedicine platform. Synchronous telemedicine has proven to be useful for emergency department consultations in triaging the urgency of referrals or providing first aid remotely, telementoring, and telesurgery, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic or in remote locations with few service options.?

In contrast, asynchronous models frequently use the "store-and-forward" methodology, where medical history, diagnosis, treatment, and management details are recorded and uploaded onto cloud servers and then reviewed by specialists or analyzed by artificial intelligence algorithms to determine patient outcomes.

Digital Therapeutics?

Digital therapeutics refers to all platforms and technological advancements that provide digital solutions to improve healthcare. Technologies utilized in digital health include wearables, smart devices, and mobile health. Globally, the market for digital therapeutics is expected to reach a value of 7.1 billion USD in 2025, with real-time application explored in obesity, diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).??

Although digital therapeutics have been used in neurological and chronic diseases, substance addiction prevention but large-scale adoption of digital therapeutics are hindered due to the limited availability of clinically proven applications over suboptimal options.?

Care Navigation?

To ensure that patients and caregivers do not have to manage their healthcare needs alone, the concept of care navigation has evolved to aid in accessibility to specialist care within their geographical locations. An example of care navigation is electronic triaging or e-triaging, in which certain tools or programs can help in finding and arranging the right care based on symptoms or conditions in cost-effective manner without compromising on the quality of healthcare.?

Care navigation enhances the patient journey for those with chronic conditions needing access to various specialists and limited engagement with healthcare professionals due to socioeconomic hindrances, communication, and cultural barriers.??

In summary, although virtual healthcare has limitations in terms of internet connectivity, technical glitches, the absence of face-to-face examinations of medical conditions, and data security, healthcare digitization will continue to evolve and, in due course, percolate as the future of the healthcare system.??

References?

Tan, TF. (2022) Metaverse and Virtual Health Care in Ophthalmology: Opportunities and Challenges. Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology 11(3):p 237-246.??

Dang, A. (2020). Role of digital therapeutics and the changing future of healthcare. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 May 31;9(5):2207-2213.??

https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/projects/consumer-enablement/how-to-support-enablement/care-navigation (Last accessed on 25 July 2023)?

By Smrita Chaudhary, Ph.D Scientific Advisor,?Neovation Consultancy Services

?