What “smarter” advantages does it bring to different stakeholders?
CJ: The concept of smarter tech in healthcare is interesting. I personally feel that the technology is already out there, in use in other industries. What needs to happen now is to start to move this tech into the hands of the stakeholders who have most to gain. Of course, this has started to take place already, and the pandemic has helped accelerate the process.
- For clinicians. As already mentioned, smarter tech for clinicians means smarter workflows. This is supported by AI-driven CDS, for example, suggesting an antibiotic based on the diagnosis and physiological parameters. Another example is the suggestion of a diagnosis based on an XR. Smarter workflows would also enable some form of standardization across healthcare regionally, nationally and internationally. Benefits of such standardization have already been seen in acute medicine, with conditions causing sepsis and AKI (acute kidney injury), where decisions are time-critical.
- For patients. It goes without saying, anything that supports the clinical staff will also mean better, safer care for patients. Smarter tech, in particular the Internet of Things (IoT), when combined with AI, would enable better support for patients at home, in particular those with chronic or acute-on-chronic conditions such as diabetes and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This use of IoT-linked devices, which have been around for a while, was greatly utilized around the world during the pandemic to support the creation of virtual wards. I believe that as the requirement for these virtual wards lessens, the virtual model will still continue for a significant number of patients, in places where the infrastructure can support it.
- For healthcare organizations. Smarter tech means that organizations have more visibility as to what is going on within their organizations. As a result, they will be able to see where the issues and blockers occur. Having this visibility, they are able not only to tackle potential issues but also to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
- For regional, national and international bodies. This is where smarter technology can impact the largest number of individuals, through the use of bigger, better and more accurate data by organizations. We have seen big data in use, however smarter processes outlined above should and do capture more accurate information, which in turn leads to better decisions being made.
How could healthcare models be agile and responsive?
CJ: We saw during the pandemic how different healthcare organizations around the world struggled to cope with the increasing number of sick patients, the lack of beds, the strain on the workforce, the change in how the workforce was deployed and so on. In order to manage healthcare organizations, the existing models have to be more agile and responsive, have to be able to adapt as new situations evolve.
Solutions benefit from a platform that is able to respond according to the needs and requirements of the user, whether that be an individual user or a multi-site organization. The platform that would be able to support such flexibility is the Cloud. Cloud-based solutions would be able to scale as necessary.
In addition, speed and performance should not be affected. This is also critical in supporting adoption – underperforming solutions are not accepted willingly in the clinical environment. In addition, being on the Cloud also enables increased business agility – the organization can take advantage of new features and capabilities as they are released. Therefore if issues arise during a crisis, being on the Cloud would enable solutions to adapt accordingly with minimal impact on the end user.
Using key solutions on the Cloud also ensures cybersecurity, something that has become more topical as our reliance on data increases.
How should healthcare providers keep pace with technology advances?
CJ: Healthcare providers should proactively engage with their vendors and choose to work together as partners. By enabling conversations, they will keep pace with tech advances, in particular from those with whom they already have a commercial relationship, and hence easier to benefit from. This does not preclude them from looking around at other suppliers, but it does help them to be aware of developments.
I believe that vendors themselves would welcome such a move from the healthcare providers; I know we do! It is invaluable to have your customer wanting to work with you to help develop the next big thing! In addition, by working together, both parties may be able to reduce the perceived risk, and as a result be more innovative with the solutions developed.
Of course, other obvious ways are to keep abreast of developments through media, such as through this publication. Reach out, talk to people in other organizations, talk to vendors, talk to each other, and then find the best way to move forward by working together to balance risk against benefit. At the end of the day, we are all here to make people better.
