4 Trends That Have Influenced Healthcare So Far

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly prompted a technology-driven change in the past two years. Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other fourth industrial revolution fields have significantly impacted the healthcare industry in several unprecedented ways. 

With new vaccines and treatment plans coming out every day, the world can be seen retaining a glimmer of normality. However, the breakthrough brought about by the pandemic-accelerated pace of innovation is here to say, and the healthcare sector seems to be highly affected by these ever-advancing technological revolutions. This sector can be seen handled by innovative medicine, biotechnology, smart devices, virtual and augmented reality, and robotics. This is also the right time to invest in biotech companies. You may find few breast cancer stocks.

Several trends seem to be altering the demographics of this industry, and this writing focuses on a few of them. Let’s get into them. 

1. Telemedicine, Virtual Care, and Remote Patient Monitoring Services 

There’s no other way to say it: telemedicine has revolutionized the healthcare industry by allowing humans the same level of care right in the comfort of their home as they attain in a healthcare clinic or hospital. Telemedicine and remote patient monitoring have quickly become the norm, and their adaptability is expected to continue increasing. According to Forrester analysts, the number of virtual visits (particularly for routine and minor appointments) skyrocketed to one billion in 2020.

In addition, telemedicine seems to be playing a significant role in teaching students the intricacies of medicine, no matter what the geographical location of the student or teacher may be. Several highly sought-after courses, such as an online master’s healthcare administration, along with practical courses, are being offered by many healthcare professionals and hospital universities. 

Virtual care also controls the risk of spreading contagious diseases, which are not a rarity in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Remote patient monitoring services also hold numerous benefits and allow healthcare professionals to examine patients in their natural living settings. In addition, telemedicine helps healthcare professionals to squeeze in a more significant number of patient consultations into their fully packed schedules. 

It is expected that the future will unfold a new development in the ongoing testing of robotic and autonomous healthcare assistants that can function right in patients’ houses or hospitals. This giant scientific leap will also have mental health implications, as the companion robots installed in some hospitals relieved the symptoms of social isolation and loneliness. 

2. Use Of Gene Editing And Genomics In Devising New Treatment Processes

Gene editing has enabled scientists to change the world constructively in many ways. They have been able to influence particular traits inherited by new living cells during new protein creation by the division of existing cells. Known as phenotypes, these traits control a cell’s longevity, division rate, the ability to survive in the wake of illness or injury, and several other factors. The manipulation of these genotypes has been undertaken through processes such as CRISPR-Cas9 and has allowed researchers and scientists to make significant advances in formerly untreatable diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and Duchenne muscular Dystrophy. Gene editing has opened new arenas for the accelerated development of precise treatments such as “precision medicine,” where drugs can be easily personalized to match the genetic profile of individual patients, thereby making them more efficient.

Furthermore, this technology has also been recently used to develop a “lab on a chip.” This phenomenon is a handheld device that allows rapid detection of the Coronavirus infection, thereby eliminating the need to rely on insufficient indicators such as temperature, nostril swab, or cough. Thus, gene alteration has played a significant role in returning a ray of normality into our lives. 

The benefits that genomics portend do not end in healthcare alone. They have allowed the development of caffeine-free coffee beans that cost less, both in money and resources, than regular, decaffeinated beans. This phenomenon has also developed disease-resistant bananas that hold the potential to transform industries that spend a large portion of their production costs on fighting disease. 

3. Data And AI: Fairer And Better Healthcare Insurance And Coverage

AI and efficient data collection methods have enhanced interaction with health services and the devices for online activities, which means that healthcare providers can have an increasingly accurate picture of when and where patients may require intervention. Patients are increasingly becoming willing to share their data, provided they are guaranteed their privacy. 

This trend has proved particularly beneficial from an economic point of view. The Covid-19 pandemic has been especially expensive for the healthcare industry, and revenues fell by 50% in the U.S. because of patients avoiding surgeries and hospitals in general. This happening also boosted reliance on AI-driven prediction tools to forecast if healthcare professionals could use resources most efficiently.

4. AI, IoT, And Smart Cities: Enhanced Ability To Detect And Mitigate Future Outbreaks

Smart cities are built on the concept of developing digital connectivity and specialized, automated data-driven decisions in urban life. It includes refuse collection, public transport networks, environmental health initiatives, and energy distribution. IoT and AI are both fundamental to several initiatives in this domain.

These smart cities have switched innovation towards planning and managing how the growing numbers of people would live in ever-closer proximity to one another. This drift is paving the way for new remedies to battle the ongoing growth in the urban population, directly impacting the provision of quality healthcare to all and boosting several diseases. The UN predicts that 68% of the world’s population to live in urban areas by 2050. Environmental health is a consequential factor in determining the direction of healthcare, and thus IoT, AI, and smart cities have played a vital role in catalyzing their development. Various tech-driven initiatives have sprung up in its favor, with their roots growing from the trends already a healthcare norm. 

The world is digitalizing at a rapid pace, and a number of such discoveries have altered the healthcare demographics to the extent that today’s industry is almost incomparable to the one about fifty years ago. Various new innovations holding the potential to further bring improvement and comfort are underway, and most of them stem from previously applied theories and advancements. The healthcare industry will be expected to unfold in another of its superior versions in the coming decades and be completely unrecognizable to today’s version. 

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