Digital transformation requires a solid commitment to change. It must include leadership support, user buy-in, and comprehensive training. It must also incorporate a flexible development cycle that allows companies to iterate quickly.
Digital can mean more convenient and coordinated care for patients and service users. It can also reduce the day-to-day frustrations that impact job satisfaction and allow clinical staff to operate at their highest levels of competence.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting healthcare trends. It can improve diagnostics and support patient self-care while accelerating drug discovery processes. It can also reduce administrative costs by automating tasks and identifying fraud patterns.
However, the impact of digital transformation on patients must be carefully considered. For instance, AI solutions often require extensive data aggregation, restricting people’s freedom of information self-determination. This can be problematic for patients with privacy concerns.
Moreover, European health systems must address issues such as data governance and security, funding, and regulation to maximize the potential of AI. To facilitate this, they need to define their level of ambition and consolidate funding against strategic AI priorities. They must also encourage the creation of centers of excellence and agile networks to accelerate innovation. This will help to ensure that EU-wide standards for ethical and trustworthy AI are developed. Furthermore, it will enable Europe to play a global role in shaping the AI sector.
Precision medicine
The digitization of hospital care offers several clear advantages for patients, hospitals, and healthcare systems. Digital transformation in healthcare can save money, reduce risks, and improve diagnosis and medical management of diseases. It can also reduce the burden on strained healthcare systems, especially inpatient care.
The potential of precision medicine is enormous, but it requires new tools and approaches to protect privacy and data security. For example, the All of Us Research Program invites 1 million Americans to share their genetic, biological, and other health data to build a diverse historical database to help researchers better understand human disease.
In addition, digitalization can also reduce the amount of time doctors spend on administrative tasks, which allows them to devote more time to advising and caring for their clients. However, digitalization also requires a change in working methods, and many doctors have reported that they have to acquire new competencies. Moreover, the increased interaction with patients will require them to use digital applications to collect and monitor their health data.
Robotics
Digital transformation in the healthcare industry is increasing. Digital healthcare trends are driven by low barriers to market entry, a focus on customer value, and the growth of the platform economy. As a result, hospitals need to find their place in new digital ecosystems and adapt their business models to customer expectations.
One of the most promising digital technologies in this regard is robotics. This technology can enhance the performance of hospital staff by eliminating repetitive and administrative tasks. Moreover, it can free clinicians’ time to spend on patient care.
Robots in healthcare are increasing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because the technology helps reduce patients’ exposure to pathogens and improve patient outcomes. However, several challenges must be addressed before the full potential of robotics can be realized in healthcare. These include the need for high-quality studies with larger population groups and an interventional design.
Integration of data
As healthcare data grows, the ability to integrate it will make a big difference in efficiency. Hospitals must rely on agile, cloud-based solutions that handle petabytes of data. Moreover, these platforms can also unify financial and administrative electronic documents to facilitate KPI analysis.
For medical professionals, digital transformation means less physical work and more time advising patients. It can also help improve patient outcomes and support diagnosis and therapy. However, the increased use of technology may cause job loss and a change in working methods, which requires a high level of health literacy and digital competence.
Businesses leverage digital technology to improve existing business processes and develop new ones. Netflix, for example, disrupted brick-and-mortar video rentals and took on traditional television networks and production studios by enabling users to stream high-quality movies online. Digital innovation also creates fairer, more equitable health services. This is especially true if the team that carries out the digital transformation focuses on domains rather than specific use cases, such as answering customer service calls.
