What do cell phones, tablet computers, GPS, 3D printers, and FitBit have in common? The technology first appeared not in some remote R&D lab, but in similar forms on the Star Trek screen. The fact is that technology today is evolving so rapidly, and what was once science fiction is quickly becoming science fact. Nowhere is this more evident than in the arena of healthcare, where every day, technology is changing the way people are diagnosed, the way data are shared, and the way doctors treat their patients.
Better Diagnosis
Probably the most significant, and most promising, change health technologies have brought about is in the area of medical diagnosis. Now, more than ever, even difficult to diagnose conditions are being caught earlier, less invasively, and at less expense. Wearable devices and remote monitors can track vital patient data across time, documenting and transmitting to the healthcare provider important information about, for instance, changes in heart rhythm or blood pressure that might not manifest in the clinical setting.
In addition to the proliferation of remote monitors, today’s imaging technologies are now more sensitive and accurate than once seemed possible. For example, today’s new flex-printed circuit boards (PCB) can not only be modified for use as wearable monitoring devices or to replace damaged or defective internal body parts on even the most minute scale, but they can also be ingested in pill form to take images of internal organs and structures. This enables the diagnosis of disease, including cancer, in its earliest stages, before it can even progress to the point of being visible on traditional scanners or in blood work.
Better Treatment
Not only have advances in health technology changed the way diseases are diagnosed, but they have also forever changed the way doctors treat their patients. The advent of telemedicine, for instance, is changing patient/care-provider relationships. Now, aged and infirm patients, as well as those who live in rural areas or have little access to transportation, can maintain a robust, open, and highly engaged relationship with their doctors and nurses. This not only drives treatment efficacy but also cuts healthcare costs and promotes treatment compliance.
Better Information-Sharing
No doubt about it: we live in a digitally connected world, meaning that, thanks to the internet, geographical distance is no longer much of a problem. Even the most sensitive data can be securely transmitted with the click of a button. Hence the success of the burgeoning field of health informatics, allowing healthcare providers to share vital patient records instantly, no matter the hour or the location. Not only this, but the massive and ever-expanding pool of global health data galvanizes patient data analysis, providing care providers with access to literally billions of health data points to promote faster and more accurate patient diagnosis, no matter how obscure the condition.
Best of all, patients and families can also find themselves empowered by the advent of Big Data in healthcare. Thanks to the World Wide Web, patients can access vital information about care providers, hospitals, clinics, and procedures to enable them to truly take the lead in their own care and that of their loved ones. After all, a knowledgeable patient is a comfortable patient, and a comfortable patient is both confident and compliant, on top of a proactive figure in protecting, maintaining, and restoring their own health.
Better Quality of Life
The line between science fiction and science fact becomes most thrillingly blurred when it comes to the impact of the new technologies on patients’ overall quality of life. New technologies are enabling scientists to grow artificial skin for burn victims. Improvements in 3D printing technologies now enable the reproduction of customized limbs and organs to replace those lost to injury or disease. There are even new nanotechnologies being developed to galvanize cognitive functioning by turbocharging the communication between the brain’s synapses.
Perhaps the most promising of these technologies, though, are found in modern cancer research, especially the work currently being done in targeted genomic therapies. By mapping patients’ individual genomes, researchers can create individualized treatments specifically designed to track and kill the patient’s particular kind of cancer, while leaving healthy cells intact.
The Takeaway
When it comes to modern medicine, the future truly is now. We don’t have to live in the Matrix to experience the reality of the fantastical, we need only to experience our next physical exam from the comfort of our own living rooms or swallow a tiny capsule designed to scout out cancer cells in our GI tract to know that fantasy has, indeed, become a reality.
The modern age of healthcare is changing the way disease is found and treated. It is dramatically improving the quality of life for patients suffering from catastrophic illness and injury. It is changing the relationships between patients and care providers, and it is making our tomorrows brighter, healthier, more plentiful than we ever could have dreamed.