Technology is impacting every aspect of our lives, and healthcare is no exception. Indeed, there are some truly impressive advancements in technology in the healthcare sector that will have a significant positive impact on our health and well-being going forward. Find out about the 9 most critical medical advances in the post below.
By Team Savant
Image: Alex Knight
3D Printing
One of the biggest advances in healthcare right now is 3D printing which can be used for a variety of purposes including customised items designed to treat or even repair specific parts of the body. Can we 3D print a medical patient a new leg or heart? Not yet, but who's to say that won’t be a possibility in the future? The possibilities are endless too as they range from macro devices like exoskeletons for the paralysed to using biological materials to 3D print skin for wound healing and transplants.
Wearables
Healthcare wearables are big business right now. You may even be wearing one as you read this if you have an Apple watch, a Fitbit, a Garmin or the like. Designed to help track and analyse health data from steps walked in a day, to insulin levels and oxygen levels wearables have tremendous potential to provide more accurate and personalised health care to those using them.
Improved Safety Around Digital Medical Devices
Another amazing and reassuring advance in the healthcare sector is the increase in safety concerning connected and digital medical devices. These devices which can mean the difference between life and death in some cases have to be secure to protect the safety of the patient and their right to privacy. The good news is that MedTech cybersecurity professionals will be able to set up protection for a wide range of medical devices as they are deployed for use in the market by patients. Such experts can even provide security for devices in the premarket submission stage, making device testing much safer too.
Telemedicine
If you have ever waited in line in the pouring rain for a doctor's appointment, after spending hours negotiating the afternoon off with your boss to attend in the first place, you will understand just how much telemedicine can transform healthcare. This is because instead of having to put your whole life on hold, when you are already feeling unwell or worried you can use telemedicine services to see a doctor almost instantly and get the help you need without disrupting your day, or being taken away from your other responsibilities. Telehealth makes getting diagnosis and treatment fast, and easy which in turn helps people to get back to full health more quickly and easily too.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
With virtual reality surgeons, doctors and nurses can practice intricate and tricky procedures over and over again until they are experts without ever having to go near a person. The benefit of this is that when it comes time to perform such procedures on real people, they will already know precisely what they are doing, increasing the possibility of success and reducing any risk or discomfort felt by the patient.
Data-driven Healthcare
Currently, we largely lump those with specific conditions and issues together, offering them limited treatment and care options based on the evidence we have. However, by using technology to provide personalised healthcare that is driven by data we can not only improve health outcomes but also the experience of individual patients’ care and treatment.
Robotics
Already in use robotic surgery can transform high-risk procedures requiring supreme accuracy into routine ones. Stabilisation can be added along with a wealth of other additional boons that help make surgery safer, faster, and less invasive all of which significantly positively impact patients.
Digital Twins
Digital twins are another amazing advancement in healthcare that is set to revolutionize it in the coming decade. A digital twin is a twin that exists solely within a digital system. They are designed to mimic through data patients' organs, bodies, and health conditions. By providing a digital twin for a patient a medical professional can map out how particular treatments would work, and whether their advantages outweigh their risks, thereby providing better and more effective treatment without the side effects.
Drug Development
Similarly developing drug treatments for diseases is currently one of the most expensive aspects of providing effective medical care. However, digital technology is poised on the brink of revolutionising this because tech like that mentioned above can allow for faster and simpler trials to ascertain whether to go ahead with the more dangerous and time-consuming human testing.