New digital health trends in 2021

It has been always a conscious move to adapt more solutions that depend on digital health aspects over the past years. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, this vision has transformed from being a step forward to be the main essential vision for almost any healthcare provider in order to keep servicing the community and increase their consumption. Today digitization of healthcare services is no more an optional change, but a normal practice that should be the main focus in order to continue and succeed. We will try to highlight some new trends of digital health in 2021 to help all those involved in health services.
 

1- Artificial Intelligence

 

We can call AI as the new nerves of healthcare industry. It may look more costly, but it is expected that this technology can save up to US$150 billion annually by 2026. Some of the trending applications of AI include using them for caregiving, nursing, chatbots systems, robot-assisted surgery, virtual health assistants, medical dosage, diagnosis, precision medicine, cybersecurity and many others.

2- Internet Of Medical Things

 

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to devices that are connected via the internet. These include wearables, smart beds, ECG, connected inhalers, EKG monitors and other amenities. This is one digital trend that has witnessed significant growth.

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) will help healthcare facilities to monitor patients at homes and in fact, at any part of the world.

3- Telemedicine

 

Telemedicine has played a very important role in shaping the facilities for people from rural areas to get access to doctors and specialists. After COVID-19 outbreak, this technology no longer applies to this criteria of people only.

4- Virtual/Augmented Reality

 

This technology has obvious effects on medical education, emergency response and prevention and diagnosis for diverse conditions.

5- At-home Lab Tests

 

This advancement is one of the most important coming of age in medicine. Although people have been using at-home tests since the 60s, the real breakthrough arrived when testing started to pose a threat to both the tester and the patient. Having a lab test done in the comfort of one’s own home made testing safer.

6- Immunity passports


A so-called immunity passport is a concept wherein the individual can officially prove that s/he’s vaccinated against the particular virus. Originally the concept included people who had the virus but recovered, but as it can get caught more than once, the idea was ditched. Such passports or certificates (QR codes, or whatever form it might take) should allow us to live more normal lives, travel and work.

There is no doubt that the healthcare industry is witnessing a huge transformation with digitisation and AI on the top. This should alert all healthcare service providers of all levels to make a couple of steps towards this direction if they want to stay aligned with the world and connected to their customers in the best way possible.