The latest technologies in medicine and healthcare
Medicine is one of the areas that is the most motivated for development, because the significance of health may not be overestimated. Each tiny update or improvement is able to save the lives of thousands of people or at least to improve their condition.
A lot of companies are working on the creation and implementation of new medtech and healthtech. They closely cooperate with doctors and scientists to ensure that technology is best suited to patients’ needs.
The pandemic definitely had a great impact on medicine. The healthcare system was overloaded and needed fast solutions and automation of processes as never before. An increasing number of hospitals have switched to online appointments, medical records and prescriptions. A lot of applications that help to fight the Covid 19 have appeared throughout the world.
App For Infection Prevention
Our Embrox team has also developed an application for tracking the level of risk of getting infected with Covid 19.
In this program, the risk of getting infected is assessed with the help of traffic lights: based on the user's health, visited places and contacts. In addition, the program has a built-in symptoms checker that asks the user about the corresponding symptoms. The user’s profile with risks of getting infected and the health condition is created by the program based on this information. There is also a possibility for the users to log the symptoms on their own.
The application also provides recommendations based on official sources that allow the user to be aware of the current epidemiological situation. This application is free.
We also have a great deal of experience working with other applications in the healthcare field .
Statistics show that the usage of medtech is increasing by around 5% annually. This is quite a significant figure as all updates must not only be thoroughly tested, but also provide proven benefits for the society.
Medtech and healthcare tech can be divided into several directions:
Patient monitoring and online consultations
Due to diverse types of devices the doctor is able to remotely monitor the condition of the patient’s health. Advice via video calls, phone and messengers can be also given. This allows medical staff to help a large number of people simultaneously as well as free up space in medical institutions. The great significance of online monitoring and consultations was proven in times of pandemic, when hospitals and doctors were overloaded.
Electronic medical records and online appointments
The viewing of medical history, systematisation of data and sharing it have become much easier for doctors since the electronic medical records were introduced. It also has provided the opportunity for various specialists to obtain information about the patient without its loss and misinterpretation.
The patient can have access to his account, where the results of examinations, tests and prescriptions are stored in one place. The online appointments, in its turn, simplify the patient’s registration and facilitate the work of the administrative staff of hospitals.
One example of an application that is created for saving patient’s data is Medical Assistant , which was developed by us.
MAX – Medical Arts eXperience – is software that helps doctors to show their patients what is wrong with them. The application provides the ability to upload photos and videos that doctors can draw or write directly. This helps to visually demonstrate the problem and possible methods of treatment.
There is also the possibility to upload documents so that all patient’s information is stored in one place.
- Each doctor has their own virtual office
- Patient data is confidential
- All information and documentation are systematic
- Web tools for easy content management from hospital wards are included
68% of patients assert that they are more likely to choose medical facilities that provide the opportunity to make online appointments.
Technologies directly for diagnosis and treatment
If the previous points are mainly for the convenience of healthcare professionals and patients, here we are talking about the latest technologies that help in detecting and treating the disease. Large scientific departments are working with engineers in order to develop the newest methods of overcoming diseases successfully.
Surgery is one of the fields, in which technological advances are most notable. Thanks to microsurgery and other innovations, surgeons are now able to perform less invasive operations. Technologies allow surgeons not only to increase the speed and accuracy of surgical procedure, but also to reduce the risks for patients.
New healthcare tech
More and more applications that provide an opportunity to track nutrition, emotional and physical health, sleep, quantity and quality of physical activity are appearing in App Store and Play Market. In some smartphones such a type of application is installed in the basic version. Not only do these programs help to prevent diseases, but they also help doctors to collect data about patients.
Information access
Nowadays, it has become so easy to buy medical products online, find the nearest doctors, browse medical online conferences or just look for symptoms (what is not recommended). The growing number of platforms and applications that provide access to key health information are appearing.
Wearable devices
Smartwatches and fitness bracelets are used by medical specialists in order to remotely monitor the condition of patients’ health, recovery and general habits. Smart helmets monitor the condition of workers on the construction, which allows to prevent overfatigue and to quickly respond to health problems. More and more wearable devices that can be used for monitoring are being invented.
Robotics
Robots are already assisting in operating rooms, but the usage of robotics is not only about operating rooms. Medical robots are able to transport medical supplies, disinfect hospital rooms, assist in prosthetics and rehabilitation, automate laboratories and even provide targeted therapy to certain parts of the body.
Bioengineering transplants and prosthetics
The development of tissues or even whole organs through bioengineering manipulations with the patient’s own cells in combination with 3D images and printing has led to a huge leap forward in organ transplantation. Technological progress has also incredibly influenced prosthetics. Modern limb replacements allow patients to live normal lives almost without any complications.
Artificial intelligence
Some of the most practical applications of artificial intelligence in healthcare are medication timers, speech recognition, notification of further follow-up of patients and online diagnostics via chatbots.
Virtual reality in healthcare
Virtual reality has provided vast opportunities in the field of medicine and healthcare. Doctors are able to examine the tumour before the procedure, medical students can virtually practise as well as visually examine human organs, bedridden patients or patients with a need for special care are able to have fun playing VR video games and travelling.
Voice technology
According to Healthcare Weekly, “voice search has become incredibly popular throughout the world and nowadays around one in six Americans has smart speakers, while 40% of adults use voice search once a day”. Wearable devices with programs that provide voice recognition and its conversion into text are widely used. These types of applications are also available on smartphones. It provides the possibility to save a lot of time for doctors on rewriting and systemating.
Medicine is one of the areas in which we are looking forward to updates and improvements. We hope medications or treatments for all possible diseases worldwide will be invented. Therefore, the development of technology in this area is supported in all possible ways. We are proud to contribute to it.