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Healthcare is an industry that affects everyone, but one that has historically had a reputation for less-than-positive customer experiences. However, customer experience is now becoming a focus of many healthcare companies and clinics. Doctors, hospitals, and health companies now have insight into all factors that can affect patient’s health. This is aided by new approaches and technology that have the power to transform healthcare. Here are five top trends in the healthcare industry for 2018.
Virtual Reality
The use of virtual reality has been proven to aid in the treatment of pain relief. According to a recent study, children undergoing chemotherapy did better when they played games that absorbed their attention completely and also required lower doses of pain medication. They suffered less from hypertension and nausea than children who were just asked to rest.
Patient Personalization
With the growth of data comes the ability to personalize the healthcare experience. Healthcare centres are now creating a completely personalized experience for each patient. Instead of everyone being treated the same, healthcare clinics will be able to use data to see patients’ health history, any potential health, what doctors a patient prefer, whether they like being seen in person or remotely, issues. This implies that a patient's information will be easily accessible to the right treatment options, preventative care, and recommendations can be made instead of having to navigate through a complicated web of healthcare representatives.
Personalized medicine
The practice of medicine has always been based on evidence uncovered through observation. And today, health centres are at an advantage. There is a host of diagnostic techniques available that allows them to make faster and more accurate diagnoses. Histopathology allows clinicians to investigate tissue samples using microscopes to identify tumors, viruses, whilst radiology allows clinicians to investigate structures deep within the body and so on.
Smart Technology in Hospitals
Advances in technology have created a new wave of products to improve patient comfort and care. According to a recent survey, approximately 94% of healthcare executives state that they plan to implement smart technology in their organizations. Health clinics are widely using robots that can monitor a patient without a human provider being in the room. Technology has alleviated some of the pressure on healthcare providers and once again put customers in control. Smart technology comes in varied forms to increase comfort, efficiency and decrease risks. Hospitals in few countries have started using self-adjusting smart beds that adjust itself to the correct pressure and support for each patient’s preferences and condition. Smart devices and applications will continue to grow and spread throughout the healthcare field.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented reality is in trend in every industry, but it is especially powerful in the healthcare field. AR is becoming one of the strongest applications in medical training. Using AR, doctors can monitor diagnoses and procedures right in front of them to learn new skills and expand their knowledge. AR can also fight the shortage of trained professionals around the world by training more providers at once. Imagine a doctor being able to have treatment options pop up on a screen as he looks at different conditions or have growth charts appear around a child during a check-up. Instead of doctors having to spend more time reading studies to refine their skills, the information they need can simply appear in front of them as they seamlessly treat patients.
