27 February. 2023
by : Nushift
Renowned academic physician and healthcare expert David Blumenthal, who has also popularly known as the National Coordinator for Health Technology from 2009-2011 had once said that ‘’Information is the lifeblood of medicine and health information technology is destined to be the circulatory system for that information’’. The basic value of initiating a transformation in digital healthcare in empowering patients focuses on providing technology enabled care at a reduced cost.
The healthcare game today has radically evolved owing to the emergence of dynamic innovations like telemedicine, Artificial Intelligence, AI-enabled medical devices,cloud-based services, remote patient monitoring, IoMT,blockchain and electronic health records(EHR). Digitising healthcare is the need of the hour today, the mindful integration of analytics, information, and technology is what improves the overall efficiency by bringing in larger value to the patient, providers and the entire healthcare ecosystem.
Important Benefits of Digital Healthcare in Empowering Patients
Patients today want care plans to be personalised and well-catered to their individual needs, and this can only be achieved by propelling the digital healthcare solutions to move forward. Let’s understand how and why-
- Improved communication with Doctors- Real-time communication with doctors plays a pivotal role in transforming the patient experience journey. With access to professional healthcare services becoming more viable through video calls and chatbots, patients can now easily get their hands on, clear prescriptions and plan of action for their treatment through healthcare apps.
- Smarter and Smoother access to personal healthcare data- Having access to digital healthcare records helps patients have a better insight about their health. It provides them with the right set of data and analytics to make informed decisions about their overall health. Besides that it also helps them to track and chart the various patterns and trends in their wellness data.
- Hassle free appointment booking- The initial process of booking an offline in-chamber appointment with a doctor can be highly time-consuming, cumbersome and stressful. Online healthcare apps take away the hassle from the appointment booking process by letting the patient choose a preferred time and date for the appointment. This not only awards them with a greater sense of authority but freedom as well.
- Reduces human error- Humans do make mistakes, however in healthcare the slightest level of error can cause adverse effects on both the patient’s health and treatment costs. The introduction of a techy-infrastructure where patient safety is prioritised is therefore very important. By encouraging a high-reliability culture, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork, additionally improving the front-line system can minimise the risk of errors and pace up the patient recovery process through collective decision making.
- Personalisation of Care-
Digital health apps today are helping clinicians work smarter, Medtech and other health-related applications today are drawing in a value-based care. The significance of digital healthcare in empowering patients is nestled in personalizing care by-
- Allowing patients to track their own vital parameters like-Weight, heart rate, blood pressure, sugar, steps and calorie intake.
- Schedule appointments for doctor visits and book pathological tests from the comfort of their home.
- Have instant and remote access to digital health records, pathological reports, insurance and mediclaim. The apps also send automated reminders on status of the insurance, due dates for payment of premium, and other allied benefits on the insurance.
- People living in remote areas can digitally connect with doctors via video conferencing services.
It is safe to say today that the advent of technology has tremendous significance for digital healthcare in empowering patients. From emergency response, health administration and surveillance, clinical documentation, treatment monitoring to maintenance of health records, health-care technology has greatly contributed towards empowering the patient care experience. Here’s looking forward to the next generation of healthcare to continue to be more more mobilized, decentralized and personalized