3 Ways Technology has Changed Healthcare

Technology is seen as the driving force behind healthcare improvements, and when you look at the rate of change and recent innovations, many find it difficult to disagree with this observation. Health informatics graduates will undoubtedly agree that technology affects many aspects of our lives as breakthroughs in data collection, research and treatment enable medical providers to use new tools and find new and innovative ways to practice medicine in the future. 

Better and more accessible treatment

As per industry analysts, increased treatment accessibility is one of the most tangible ways technology has changed healthcare. Health IT opens up many more avenues of research and exploration, enabling experts to make healthcare more driven and effective than ever before.

Improved care and efficiency

Patient care is another key area which has grown and continues to grow. Using information technology in most applications has made patient care safer and more reliable. It is an excellent illustration of the benefits of health IT that nurses and doctors working on the frontline now routinely use handheld computers to record important real-time patient data and then share it instantly within their updated medical history. The ability to accumulate laboratory results, record vital signs and other critical patient data in a centralized area has transformed the level of care and efficiency that a patient can expect to receive when entering the healthcare system. An increased level of efficiency in data collection means scientists who are finding new ways to study trends and make medical breakthroughs at a faster rate are able to access a vast online resource of patient history.

Software improves healthcare and disease control

Developing specific software programs means that the World Health Organization, for example, has been able to classify diseases, their causes and symptoms into a massive database of over 14,000 individual codes. This resource enables medical professionals and researchers to track, retrieve and use valuable data in fighting disease control and generally deliver better health outcomes. Software also plays a key role in tracking procedures and using billing methods that not only reduce the level of paperwork, but also enable practitioners to use this data to improve the quality of care and efficiency. Doctors report that they derive huge benefits from driving towards a complete system of electronic medical records; patients enjoy the fact that software has created greater transparency in the healthcare system.

We’ve seen a lot of positive health IT changes and expect to see more exciting developments in the future!