Medi­cine beco­mes more digital

Topic: Medi­cine Goes Digital

Today we are dis­cus­sing the fasci­na­ting topic of “Digi­ta­liza­tion in Medicine.”

Ger­many aims to become one of the lea­ding manu­fac­tu­r­ers of medi­cal tech­no­logy through digi­ta­liza­tion and to take a lea­der­ship role. For this pur­pose, the fede­ral govern­ment has embedded a sup­port pro­gram into the “High-Tech Stra­tegy 2025″ to aid pri­ma­rily small and medium-sized enter­pri­ses in the Ger­man medi­cal tech­no­logy sector.

The COVID-19 pan­de­mic has unequi­vo­cally shown us that paper-based and ana­log pro­ces­ses have an expi­ra­tion date. In these fast-paced times, a digi­tal solu­tion should be found.

Chan­ges Brought About by Digi­ta­liza­tion in Medicine

Num­e­rous chan­ges have occur­red in socie­tal life­styles and the eco­nomy. Note­wor­thy are the deve­lo­p­ment of secure net­wor­king in health­care, the intro­duc­tion of the elec­tro­nic health card (eGK) with its appli­ca­ti­ons, the elec­tro­nic pati­ent record (ePA), and the elec­tro­nic pre­scrip­tion (E‑Prescription). Addi­tio­nally, the so-cal­led DiPA (Digi­tal Care Appli­ca­tion) enables impro­ved com­mu­ni­ca­tion for rela­ti­ves and care pro­fes­sio­nals. The inter­ac­tion bet­ween care reci­pi­ents and their rela­ti­ves can be faci­li­ta­ted by these “digi­tal helpers.”

A cru­cial aspect of digi­ta­liza­tion in medi­cine is arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence. Here, cogni­tive com­pu­ter sys­tems inte­grate data from labo­ra­to­ries, cli­ni­cal infor­ma­tion sys­tems, and ima­ging to pro­duce rele­vant results. Fac­tors like emo­tion, dis­trac­tion, and fati­gue, com­mon in humans, do not affect these systems.

Robo­tics also plays a vital role in the digi­ta­liza­tion of medi­cine. In health­care, there are num­e­rous appli­ca­tion areas for this tech­no­logy. Highly auto­ma­ted labo­ra­tory pathways are indis­pensable in labo­ra­tory ope­ra­ti­ons. Simi­larly, sur­gi­cal pro­ce­du­res are incre­asingly per­for­med with the assis­tance of robo­tic aides. Micro-robots are also employed in this field.

Moreo­ver, con­sul­ta­ti­ons are often held via video nowa­days. Even the­rapy pro­grams for stress, sleep dis­or­ders, and depres­sion are used, so that pati­ents do not neces­s­a­rily have to visit a psy­cho­lo­gist in per­son through exer­ci­ses and videos.

For ins­tance, sen­sors can also cap­ture vital signs, and data from pati­ents with heart con­di­ti­ons can be directly trans­mit­ted to the hos­pi­tal. This way, cri­ti­cal deve­lo­p­ments and hos­pi­tal admis­si­ons can be preempted.

There are a myriad of digi­tal tools that advance medi­cine as a whole.

When­ever there are advan­ta­ges, dis­ad­van­ta­ges also emerge due to digi­ta­liza­tion in medi­cine. These include cost increa­ses for medi­cal prac­ti­ces and health insu­ran­ces, as well as cyber­at­tacks on pati­ent data.

Howe­ver, through daily use, we are con­vin­ced that digi­ta­liza­tion in medi­cine brings signi­fi­cantly more advan­ta­ges than dis­ad­van­ta­ges. Over time and with habi­tua­tion, people’s con­cerns and fears will also dimi­nish. And the qua­lity of pro­ducts and ser­vices will become more refi­ned and per­fec­ted as they mature in the market.

As a society, we can­not close our eyes to such signi­fi­cant chan­ges, but must embrace and learn to cope with them.

MOXI is part of this transformation.

#Moxi #digi­tal #future­o­ri­en­ted #E‑Health #tech­no­logy #mobi­lity #pati­ents #trans­port #digi­tal