How Digital Technology Is Revolutionizing Health Systems

JEDCA – Healthcare systems around the world face many challenges, including rising costs, hospital shortages, and the need to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Digital healthcare can help solve these challenges using technologies such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring, medical applications, and AI solutions. 

Handling patients digitally encourages health workers and makes it exciting for them to focus on patients on the device.

A digital health system can also improve access to care, especially for people living in rural areas, by improving the delivery of care through virtual platforms. 

It reduce hospital shortages by increasing the allocation of resources and improving efficiency and coordination, thereby leading to cost savings and maintaining or improving the level of care provided to patients. 

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Wearable technologies, digital therapy, and patient monitoring (RPM) are revolutionizing healthcare.

Statistics from Global Data show that the value of digital health business had increased by 129 percent from 2018 to 2023, and plugins are becoming a growing trend for the life sciences industry.

The future of digital health is expected to be influenced by advances in precision medicine, GLP-1 drugs (drugs that help reduce blood sugar levels and promote weight loss), and telehealth equipment.

AI will play an important role in healthcare innovation, from disease diagnosis and research to drug discovery and development. Telehealth will continue to play an important role in the health revolution, with traditional providers and digital health companies building the necessary infrastructure to meet growing care needs.

Wearables, Mobile Apps, and RPM

Wearable technologies, such as smartwatches and sensors, have already entered healthcare to help meet treatment needs and improve patient awareness. These devices enable real-time monitoring of a patient’s health parameters, allowing healthcare providers to access real-time data and provide personalized care.

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Digital therapy (DTx) and mobile devices are also being used to improve remote care delivery and increase patient empowerment. These tools give patients access to self-management resources, personalized treatment plans, and remote consultations, increasing their ability to manage their health conditions.

Currently, remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology plays a very important role in healthcare delivery, allowing doctors to access health data remotely and provide care without the need for a human visit.

RPM applications, such as laptops, agree to look at medical health, making goodness of care for patients.

Compatibility With Medical Devices 

According to Global Data’s topic study: Medical Device Forecast 2024, the medical device, pharmaceutical, and healthcare markets, which are quick to adopt new technologies, have seen increasing activity in recent years, with many businesses adopting AI as part of their digital transformation strategy.

GlobalData predicts that in the coming years, AI will be the main driver of healthcare innovation across multiple applications, and forecasts that the AI market for all healthcare sectors will reach $18.8 billion in 2027, from $ 4.8 billion in 2022.

AI is used in many areas of medicine and its use is expected to increase. Common uses include health record data management, particularly with the increasing use of electronic medical record (EMR) systems and large volumes of collected health data; diagnostic imaging, including the use of AI algorithms to analyze medical images such as MRI and CT scans; diagnostic and AI assistance systems, such as chatbots that can provide health information; and remote and robotic surgery, as AI-assisted robotic systems can improve precision during surgical procedures. 

New and upcoming health technologies include 5G-enabled wearables, augmented reality (AR), and blockchain cybersecurity.

The 5G technology is expected to enable remote patient monitoring systems, enabling faster and more reliable data transmission. Integrating augmented reality (AR) into Health has the potential to address seamless needs in mental health treatment, chronic pain management, and stroke rehabilitation. 

AR can enhance the delivery of virtual therapy and provide an immersive experience for patients, thereby improving treatment outcomes. AR can also help radiologists analyze patient scans to detect problems that the human eye alone cannot detect and create 3D “digital twins” to provide new perspectives, for example by measuring the patient’s body parts with no need for X-rays or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). ) and model medical conditions.

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Cybersecurity tools are essential to protect virtual care services and patient health data from cyber attacks. As healthcare becomes increasingly digital, ensuring the security and privacy of patient information is critical. Blockchain can be used for hospital payments, clinical trials, patient information, medical billing, and inventory management.

How does this affect health in Kenya?

With these figures, it is possible to improve Kenya’s health system. It is more effective now that “Kenya’s health care service is killing health workers.” Technology can pave the way for greater ease in how patients are managed, it will make data entry more efficient and less likely to be lost.

If Kenya takes this, we have an opportunity to talk about our Healthcare system being at par with internationally ranked healthcare systems.