The healthcare industry has seen the role of technology grow significantly over the past several years, both in the medical side of the field and in the administrative sector.
In a recent article for Referral MD, Brian Honigman presented the top technology innovations in the healthcare industry. Here are five of those innovations presented by Honigman.
The first innovation written about by Honigman was Microchips Modeling Clinical Trials.
“The potential to streamline, improve, and perhaps transform the current healthcare system is huge,” Honigman said. “That’s how microchip modeling clinical trials came into use because there was an open opportunity and a need to innovate on the way clinical trials are conducted.
“Microchip modeling clinical trials aim to replace the use of animals in clinical trials to more accurately test the safety and efficacy of treatment for human patients and spare the lives of countless animals typically used in testing. These microchips are smaller than a human thumb, can reconstruct the complicated interface between organs and capillaries, which is similar to the idea of microfabrication, the process of making structures on a micrometer scale.”
Another innovation is Wearable Technology like Google Glass. “Wearable technology is still in its infancy but has already started to have widespread influence across many industries,” Honigman said. “Dr. Rafael Grossmann was the very first surgeon to use Google Glass or wearable technology in general while performing a surgery. As wearable technology continues to improve to better meet the needs of its users, healthcare providers continue to hope that its use will impact both the experience of patients and practitioners to better receive and administer care.
“Dr. Grossmann believes that Google Glass and wearable technology of a similar nature will help improve the way healthcare providers interact with patients and a patient’s relatives, increasing the satisfaction of patients and making doctors and other providers more effective at doing their job because of the added level of communication between parties.”
The third innovation was 3D Printed Biological Materials. “There have been many widespread uses of 3D printers today from guns to models of the Empire State building, but the medical uses are extremely practical and overtime could really solve ongoing health issues once it’s figured out how to accurately apply them to people,” Honigman wrote.
Other innovations presented by Honigman were Optogenetics, where “a new technology has jump-started the technique in neuroscience known as optogenetics where neuroscientists target a single neuron in the brain of a mouse merely by turning on a light,” and Hybrid Operating Rooms, where “with the addition of new technology, comes the integration with established technology and systems that either needs to be replace completely or connected with to improve their performance or build upon the brand new technology’s use.”
These are great examples of how technology is changing the healthcare industry. But while these examples deal mostly with the medical side of healthcare, the administrative part of the healthcare industry is also seeing the use of technology grow. There is a growing demand for professionals to work in the health information technology sector in medical facilities across the country.
The healthcare community continues to look for ways to use data and health records as a way to better treat patients, while also improving overall care. As these types of records become more and more important, there will be an increased need for health information technology professionals, especially those with training from a respected school, such as A Technical College.
If you are someone who would like to take advantage of the growth of the medical industry, but are looking for a career other than that of doctor, nurse or other type of hands-on medical professional, then the health information technology professional career may be right for you.
The medical profession is in need of workers of all types. This includes a need for those with medical training, but there are also thousands of support positions that need to be filled. This includes health information technology professionals.
A Technical College’s health information technology training program is one of the best ways to secure a career in the healthcare industry without studying to become a doctor, nurse or other type of clinical professional. However, medical assistants are required to possess a lot of different skills ranging from administrative oversight to specific clinical administrative tasks, and those skills are changing every year as the medical industry continues to change. These positions require workers that are experts on patient data and can communicate effectively with doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers. The job is in high demand, especially as the healthcare industry continues to experience strong growth throughout the United States, in both traditional and non-traditional of medical care.