The UK’s healthcare system is a gem on the world stage, with top-shelf innovation and research leading to key breakthroughs in all manner of medical fields. But these breakthroughs are not the only ones changing the face of contemporary medicine. Technological advancement has had just as much to do with improvements to care – and new innovation continues to set new precedents, particularly in the realm of risk management.
Digitising Health Records
One of the foremost examples of technology mitigating risk in healthcare is the digitisation of medical records. Centralised recording systems allow patient data to be immutably stored and immediately shared between departments, with numerous positive impacts.
For one, lead times for delivery of crucial information from one department to another are slashed to almost zero, allowing highly-urgent medical procedures to take place much more efficiently. Human error is also reduced significantly, with the possibility of miswriting or misplacing crucial information reduced by a large amount.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has been making news in recent weeks and months, with commercially-accessible language models making a major splash on the verisimilitude front. While there may be primary care applications for such technology in the future, AI at present holds a lot of potential for reducing risk.
AI can manage the storage and dissemination of digitised patient information, further eliminating the possibility of human error. AI can also perform some perfunctory diagnosis, streamlining access to care and minimising potential damage caused by waiting for proper treatment. AI can also make complex logistical decisions on behalf of a hospital or administration, down to recommendations on which PPE to wear.
Advancements in PPE
Typically, the benefits and opportunities presented by technological leaps are quite literally immaterial; they are systemic enhancements or digital changes that affect real-world outcomes. Here, though, is an example of tangible technological advancement and immediately visible improvement.
Personal protective equipment, or PPE for short, has been consistently iterated by manufacturers and providers as new materials and processes become available. New leaps in hydrophobic coatings and antibacterial materials have led to a new standard for both practitioner and patient safety, whether in hospitals or primary care scenarios.
Clinical Decision Support Systems
Earlier, the potential role of AI as primary care decision-maker was broached. Here, though, there is a more active example of technology seeking to improve healthcare outcomes. CDS (clinical decision support) tools are smart applications that collate information on conditions and potential cures, including experimental medicines and the latest research, to supply doctors and practitioners with all the information necessary to make informed and accurate healthcare decisions.
Technology is ineluctably woven into the fabric of our society and has been changing healthcare for the better the whole time. As we enter a new era of technological innovation, we can expect the future of healthcare to look much brighter.
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