Use of Clinical Systems To improve Outcomes and Efficiencies

Use of Clinical Systems To improve Outcomes and Efficiencies

There have been several notable technological advancements in the healthcare sector. The use of these technologies has resulted in millions of lives being saved. However, the adoption of these systems and technology did not happen overnight, and there had to be through testing to ascertain that the technology would benefit the healthcare system. In this paper, I will review articles and research papers on the topic of the introduction of new technology into the healthcare industry.

One of the main challenges that face the healthcare industry when trying to make vaccines and other lifesaving medicine is the lack of enough information. Even after the medicine has been created, the hospitals lack a way to monitor the effect that the medicine will have on different people in different regions. The healthcare start-up RDMD came up with a way to combat this problem. They used artificial intelligence to create a network of computers that would collect patients’ information that could be available to any hospital when requested. The hospitals could also send feedback on the effects that new drugs had on patients to these computers. This created a hub of information that hospitals and research centers could get information and as a result better medicine and vaccines could be made and result in better health of the people in these hospitals. Despite the advantages that this system now has, its adoption was a long process. Many experts disapproved the adoption of big data into the healthcare system as patient information would be more accessible to hacking and unscrupulous attempts to access. Patients were given a paper to sign that they would agree for their information to be used for research. Only when the patients agreed is when their information was used (Raghupathi, Wullianallur & Viju, 2014).

One of the problems that cause many hospitals millions in losses is bottlenecks and delays. In no other area of the hospital is this true than in the operating room. The University of Chicago has come up with an ingenious solution to these bottlenecks in the operating rooms. Predictive analytics is not a new concept but never before has it been used to ease congestions and bottlenecks in hospitals. By the use of an AI-powered algorithm and real-time data, the hospital in question can reduce turnover by over four minutes per room. This not only increases efficiency in the hospital, but it also reduces the amount of money that the hospital loses. It is estimated that this process will be expected to save The University of Chicago Medical Center more than six hundred thousand dollars a year. This money can be placed on other projects to improve service delivery in the hospital. Before this system was implemented, numerous tests were run on smaller versions of the operating room to ensure that the system will not only work but also that it was better than the system that was already in place in the hospital. The system was only adopted by the hospital after it proved beyond reasonable doubt that it worked and helped ease the congestion in the hospitals (Amarasingham, et al.,2014).

The use of advanced robotics and nanotechnology in the healthcare system has fascinated doctors and researchers for a long time. The use of these technologies offers better ways to treat many problems that ail the human body. Despite its amazing abilities, the development of these technologies has long eluded researchers. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a miniature robot called HeartLander. This robot can perform heart therapy treatments through the use of artificial intelligence. The doctor makes a small incision and navigates the robot to specific parts of the heart, and the robot does the rest. This is a huge leap in the healthcare system. Despite its initial success, there were numerous tests done to ensure that once it is placed inside the patient’s body, it will be able to perform the tasks that are required of it. Had the bot been found to be wanting in these testing stages the production of the robot would have been halted (Rabbitt, Alan & Brian, 2015).

One of the most painful experiences for a new mother is to be separated from their newborn. When babies are born prematurely, they are placed in the NICU. Here they can be monitored by the doctors even after the parents are released to go home. It can be especially difficult for a parent to go home without their child and not know what happens to them in the hospitals. Seeing this problem, researchers in the University of Chicago and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago came up with a solution to ensure that the parents can keep track with their babies. They created an app that parents could place in their phones to ensure that the parents had constant contact with their prematurely born children. The parents can monitor the progress of the child from their phones. This makes the parents be close to the children even though they might be a long way away (Doron, Mia, Emma & Dala, 2013).

The use of virtual reality is also emerging in the health care system. Virtual reality can be used on patients that are undergoing difficult situations like childbirth or surgery. Healthcare providers have partnered up with VRHealth, a virtual reality company, to bring the use of virtual reality to patients. The patients are given virtual reality glasses during these procedures to minimize the stress they go through. The patients are shown images and scenes that they find pleasant and relaxing. Furthermore, a relaxed patient helps the doctors to perform their duties properly. There have been some people that are opposed to the use of these technologies when the patient is so vulnerable. Different patients can react differently to the images that they are shown in the virtual reality glasses. If the patient reacts in an aggressive way to these glasses, the situation might worsen. Because of this risk, there is still some continuing research on the use of these glasses to ensure that the technology I flawless before it is widely used in the healthcare system (Mantovani, et al., 2003).

For the quality of healthcare that is provided to increase, there is a need to incorporate new technologies into the sector. However, care should be taken to ensure that only systems that have been proven to work will be adopted into hospitals and other health care providers. Lack of adequate testing and research before the use of these technologies might result in making health conditions worse instead of helping them get better.

Work Cited

Literature review: The use of clinical systems to improve outcomes and efficiencies