How Will Technology Influence the Future of the Healthcare Industry

Ever wondered what the future of the healthcare industry holds? Especially, in this age where technology is conquering everything. Would you still be unhealthy and prone to debilitating diseases 10 to 20 years from now? Can technology help you avoid the suffering of old age that your parents and grandparents had to face? Is it possible for AI to replace doctors?

Well, there are various such questions that keep the experts in the healthcare industry busy. If not all, they have found some of the answers for sure. They seem to have figured out how technology can shape our future.

Here are some of the pointers on which I agree with these experts and you might too. 

Days of Data – 24/7 Monitoring, Personalised Medicine, and Beyond.

With what the current scenario of healthcare is, it can be undeniably called sick-care. The reason for this being that healthcare for an individual seriously begins not as a child but the day he falls sick. People turn ill and then visit the doctor. This is a totally misguided approach.

Healthcare should be something that begins the day you step out of your mother’s womb. It should note all factors of regular life – sleep, food, movement, water, smoking, drinking, and even relationships as they have a huge impact on mental health. However, when you fall sick and go visit the doctor, hardly any of these factors is examined in detail. But how will they get examined without being tracked and monitored?

The future will solve this problem. In fact, the path towards that future is already being unraveled with highly effective smart-watches and monitoring apps that we use nowadays. With these, the future brings devices that can help you closely measure and monitor heart rate, blood pressure, weight, breathing, etc. You know a patient is treated better when he cares 24/7 at the hospital. This is similar to that. By removing the effort of visiting the doctor in person for getting these variables checked regularly, technology will help tremendously.

How? With Personalised Treatment and Medicines

Look at the current scenario. You feel sick and visit the doctor. They do some tests, compare and analyze the previous ones and treat you on the basis of a random case study matching your test results. However, with constant measuring and monitoring of parameters, doctors will know the ins and outs of your body. By understanding your case so much better, they will then be able to provide you personalized treatment and personalized medication that suits you and your genes. Thus, treating you at least 10 times faster than usual.

A bonus point to consider is that with constant measuring and monitoring, it will become easier to understand a particular genetic composition of tumors. This can help treat cancers as well. Thus, making sure that the cancer survival rate increases at a fast pace in the future.

Days of Independence – The Robots

One of the dreadful factors of being a patient, especially of chronic disease, is that you require to get dependent on others. It feels a misery when you aren’t able to do the smallest of tasks without anyone’s help. Older people know this feeling better.

As we know, the future holds the rise of robots. And these can help patients get their independence.

You will be able to do small tasks with the help of robots. From asking questions like “Where is the phone?” to help you move around. The relationship you have with these robots, would certainly not be one-sided. They will be programmed to talk to you and also be aware of what you are doing. This way they will be able to alert people if something happens to you.

Japan is already utilizing such robots for augmenting care. However, they are expensive and inaccessible for the common man.

Final Thoughts

Yes, technology will revolutionize the healthcare industry. However, there are still many untapped ventures. Also, there’s more than Robots, 24/7 measuring and monitoring, personalized medicines and treatment that technology is capable of. Nano-medicine is one such not-so talked about topic. Will share it soon. Until then, comment below with your opinions. What is your vision of the healthcare industry in the coming years?