Digital Innovation Comes to Healthcare — Implications of Digital Technologies on Health Management
As we are aware, digital technologies have radically altered our everyday lives. I recall going to the hospital in person, waiting for the doctor’s call, when I was very young, approximately 5–6 years old, and living in a small town. But nowadays, I can just arrange an appointment online, which saves me a lot of time. in addition, healthcare has emerged as one of the most important new uses of big data. Fitbit and Apple’s ResearchKit, for example, may provide researchers access to vast volumes of biometric data from users, which can subsequently be utilised in studies on nutrition, health, disease development, and more. I will discuss the effects of digital technology on people’s daily health in three parts in this post, which are understanding IoT, digital technologies in hospitals, and digital portable healthcare respectively.
1. First Priority — Understand IoT and How it Works
To introduce the definition in brief, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a notion of connecting any devices online and other devices with digital connections. The Internet of Items (IoT) is a massive network of interconnected things and people that all collect and exchange data on how they are utilised and the world around them. Modern society expects more efficient healthcare systems due to an aging population, decreased fertility rates, and an emphasis on health. Thus, telemedicine and e-health are critical in this regard.
2. IoT and Digital Technologies in Hospitals
The internet of things (IoT) facilitates care and patient records, as well as data transfer and exchange, in the case of a healthcare system. It also cuts down on the amount of time and money individuals spend in hospitals and on medical appointments. Furthermore, by establishing a regional medical information platform for health records, medical institutions can save money on facility maintenance, personnel, and other expenses, as well as realise the interaction between patients and medical personnel, medical institutions, and medical equipment, and gradually achieve the information-based society. As a result, implementing technology like the Internet of Things and big data can improve the medical system’s efficiency and security.
Besides, telemedicine is made possible via the Internet. Real-time recording, transmission, processing, and usage of medical record information, patient information, condition information, and other data, for example, can be accomplished, allowing important information to be communicated in real-time and effectively inside and across hospitals via networking. As mentioned above, the IoT enables care and patient records, as well as data transfer and exchange in the medical systems. Thus, with a digitally established database, doctors can easily check patient information on the Internet to diagnose patients online. Many offline medical services were disabled during the COVID-19 epidemic, for example, due to excessive compliance. Online diagnostic services can assist relieve the strain on the medical system at this time.
In addition, since some operations, such as minimally invasive surgery, require highly sophisticated operations, there are certain errors and uncertainties in manual operations. Therefore, compared with traditional surgery, robotic surgery (or robot-assisted surgery) using digital technologies such as the Internet can help doctors to perform different types of complex surgeries more accurately. Moreover, some operations may take too long, and there is a factor of human fatigue, which increases the risk of surgery. Robotic surgery is a good way to avoid this potential hidden danger. However, robotic surgery also carries certain risks, such as electricity and the Internet. In the event of an emergency power outage or disconnection of the network, the operation is likely to be unable to continue, which will bring great risks to the life and safety of patients.
3. Digital Technologies — Portable Healthcare
With the constant advancement of digital technology, more and more wearable devices, such as sports wristbands and watches, are being integrated into people’s everyday exercise routines. As an example, consider me. Every day, I use the Mi Smart Band to check my body index, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep. These statistics enable me to better monitor my physical condition, particularly during high-intensity activity. And my focus on these health data, I think, is the healthcare revolution that wearables have brought me. In the past, I rely more on my own feelings to judge whether my physical condition is good, but it is difficult to quantify and objectively evaluate my feelings. The digital data provided by wearable devices allows me to observe my physical health more intuitively.
Apart from that, a few fitness influencers have a significant following on YouTube, and individuals are also sharing their workout videos on various social media platforms. As a result, online fitness is a new kind of digital sport. It facilitates sports and information contact between individuals over the Internet, as well as professional sports counseling services for fitness practitioners via information communication, and has become an integral aspect of modern life.
4. Conclusion
To conclude, this post has evaluated the implications of digital technology on people’s daily health management. It is demonstrated from the following points. First, the Internet of Things’ information platform can make an offline and online diagnosis in hospitals easier, as well as allow for remote medical treatment. Second, digitally-enabled wearable gadgets enable consumers to more intuitively monitor their physical health. Sports life has become fashionable thanks to web platforms.
However, with digital health comes the risk of information leaking. There are potential problems the internet might bring. According to research, more than half of recent PHI (Protected Health Information) data breaches were caused by internal difficulties with healthcare providers, rather than by hackers or external reasons. Furthermore, the now-popular smart watchband can leak users’ passwords. According to ‘Digital Data Collection and Information Privacy Law’ published by Cambridge Press, the user’s motions when inputting a password may be captured by hacking into the wearable’s motion sensor, and hackers can obtain trajectory information and guess the number the user typed. Thus, digital health and information security issues demand more attention and investigation.
😊Self-reflection
The digital society’s journey is coming to a conclusion, and I believe I have acquired some fruit with rich flavours, sweet, sour, and another, yet to be discovered, because it stretches into the future.
1. Sweetness
From surface occurrences to deeper essences, this course delivers us colourful stories about the digital world. I appreciate how the whole course is structured, organised, and enjoyable. The ‘Reflect’ option allows me to keep track of my progress on certain assignments and know what my key learning goals are each week. This helps me to better arrange my academic life and enhances my capacity to learn independently.
Despite the fact that this course is entirely online, I have the impression that my involvement is valued and incorporated into a digital society. I enjoy seeing everyone’s varied viewpoints, which makes me feel like our digital society is rich and diverse. Appreciate comments in the discussion section every week by Dave and Chris, these sentences make me feel more engaged and inclusive. Though we have never seen each other before, living in a digital society has never made the distance between us so far away.
2. Challenges to me
At the same time, studying this subject was challenging for me. Because this is an interdisciplinary subject, it means I have to learn a lot of different fields. And there are many topics that I have never understood before, such as smart cities, and Internet of Things technology. But when I went to explore these fields in a digital society, I found that they are not as far away as I thought. In fact, this is what we experience and witness every day. So, with the initial psychological challenge of this course, I continue to explore and discover new things, those Internet technologies that live with us every day but are full of interesting orders.
3. Unpredictable and Stretching into the Future.
At the same time, this course gave me the impression that I had a better awareness of my social context. For example, as I mentioned earlier, I now get more accurate and objective data from the sports bracelet I wear, which symbolizes a change in the way I manage my health.
When I say ‘unpredictable and stretching into the future’, I mean this course had a lasting impression on me. In other words, this session is more about assisting me in developing a style of thinking about and being aware of what is going on around me. When I go to see a future digital revolution, I will not simply look at what is on the surface; I will go deeper into the underlying changes it is bringing to people’s lives and why things happen. The future is unpredictable, but help from this course is continued and stretches into the future.
Thank you all digital society citizens! Hope we meet each other again in our digital journey in the future, becoming more qualified in handling digital technologies. 😊
