According to Khristich (2022), an expert in health-tech projects and a CTO at Tateeda Global, by 2023, it is expected that the healthcare industry will reach its plateau with high-technology breakthrough discoveries and innovations. The future trends in healthcare technology open mind-blowing advanced healthcare tools and strategic transformation in the field of medicine while boosting the quality and affordability of healthcare services in preventing diseases instead of treating them at advanced stages. With the help of the internet, integrated medical technologies are transforming how hospitals, healthcare institutions, and providers communicate with each other while effectively connecting with their patients. The medical Internet of Things (IoT) is a processing field that implements wearable devices, monitors, and integrated applications that cater to patients’ needs. At the same time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is implemented in conjunction with medical IoT, with machine learning that has an enhanced version of the traditional medical devices.
To improve the efficiency and quality of surgical care treatment in our department, Eisenhower Health Hospital introduced the Davinci Robotic Surgical Systems (RSS). A present healthcare technology trend in minimally invasive surgical procedures with minimal incision size, blood loss, and post-surgical pain. In the improvement of Conventional Laparoscopic Surgery (CLS), the reduction of natural tremors and improved surgical accuracy and vision were observed with its application. The technical advantages mentioned result in enhanced clinical outcomes, reduced postoperative complications, and shortened length of patient’s postoperative hospitalization (Kao et al., 2022). Standard procedures involved in applying the Davinci Robotic Systems are cardiac, colorectal, gynecologic, head and neck, thoracic, urology, gallbladder removal, hysterectomy, and prostatectomy surgeries. It is widely used for the surgical prevention and treatment of patients with cancer. It has built-in 3D imaging and endo-wrist technology to precisely detect nerve bundles. With its application, surgeons can undertake complex procedures that are impossible to perform with other surgical techniques.
On the contrary, the Advanced Urology Institute (2021) highlighted the disadvantages of robot-assisted surgery. Mechanical failure is unavoidable; for instance, system components such as a camera, robotic tower, arms, binocular lenses, and instruments can fail. In other cases, the electric current in the robotic instrument can malfunction, which causes the robotic arm to be misapplied to the surrounding tissues, resulting in accidental burn injuries. Moreover, robot-assisted surgery can contribute to nerve palsies due to lengthy surgical procedure that requires body positioning intended for the procedure, which also can cause direct nerve compression. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to analyze medical device reports (MDRs) related to robotically assisted surgical devices. The FDA receives mandatory reports from patients, caregivers, consumers, and healthcare professionals. Monitoring the safety and effectiveness of this medical device relies on these sources. The FDA recommends training and education to help enhance patient safety with its application (FDA, 2022). Furthermore, surgical robots come with complex systems with various points of vulnerability, and there have been traces of successful cyberattacks from their software applications. Hackers’ main target is patient health information, creating a financial incentive for attackers seeking patient data. Some robotic systems have advanced imaging features with telemonitoring and telepresence capabilities to facilitate intraoperative consultations. This integration of data sources, hardware, and software is composed of vulnerable material that enables an attack that could scale to multiple robots simultaneously (Gordon et al., 2022).
The healthcare technology trend that is believed to have the most significant impact on healthcare is the technology behind telemedicine, which did not just appear in response to the pandemic, for we have already had this for years. Yet, the previous COVID outbreak pushed this healthcare trend forward and is expected to enhance future medicine. Telehealth is the medium of communication technologies such as computers, mobile phones, and tablets to facilitate the delivery of healthcare services, an essential component of a comprehensive healthcare approach that improves the patient experience. Telemedicine enhances the continuity of patient care with constant communication between patients and their healthcare providers, which helps reduced delays or missed appointments. According to the University of Central Florida (2022), patients nowadays are investing in their health and considering technology as an opportunity to take charge of their mental and physical well-being. Telehealth is efficient, convenient, and beneficial for cost-effective virtual check-ups, thus resulting in a less expensive bill to patients while maintaining quality care. In addition, this trend is suitable for physicians and their patients, paving the way for those who feel the stigma around therapy to those who seek psychiatric help more privately. This trend offers expanded healthcare access, including medically vulnerable people without transportation. Although adopting data warehousing increases security concerns in managing big data in telehealth. Still, with intelligent telehealth decision support, big data analytics are indispensable technology that addresses the problem of processing, storing, and analyzing vast information sources. Data anonymization is one way to protect the patient’s identity. It must draft privacy laws to ensure patient privacy. For telehealth, it is suggested to have evidence-based solid decisions on many data sources when choosing optimum patient treatments (Wainstein, 2017). U.S. healthcare may go virtual in the years to come; rather than being skeptical, we must fully embrace innovation to improve the agility and efficiency of our providers in the future (Masschallenge, 2022).
References:
Advanced Urology Institute. (2021). Advantages and Disadvantages of Robotic Technology in Urology.
Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Computer-Assisted Surgical Systems.
Gordon, W., Ikoma, N., Lyu, H., Jackson, G., Landman, A. (2022). Protecting Procedural Care-Cybersecurity Considerations for Robotic Surgery.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-022-00693-8Links to an external site.
Kao, H., Yang, Y., Wu, Y. (2022). When Does DaVinci Robotic Surgical Systems Come into Play?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8841676/Links to an external site.
Khristich, S. (2022). 17 Major Healthcare Technology Trends of 2023.
https://tateeda.com/blog/healthcare-technology-trendsLinks to an external site.
Masschallenge. (2022). Rising Trends in Digital Health:5 Technologies That will Define the Future of Healthcare.
https://masschallenge.org/articles/digital-health-trends/Links to an external site.
University of Central Florida. (2022). 2022 Healthcare Industry Trend that Will Make a Difference.
https://www.ucf.edu/online/healthcare/news/healthcare-industry-trends/Links to an external site.
Wainstein, L. (2017). Managing Telehealth’s Big Data with Data Warehousing.
