The exponential demand for alternative methods of care launched during the pandemic prompted a surge of digital transformation in the healthcare industry.
From remote care to reliance on a multitude of connected devices in and outside the four walls of health centers to a rise in kiosk and retail healthcare, data generation is plentiful and in need of organized and secure capture. Digitalization can deliver considerable clinical and administrative benefits, and working with partners like my team at Verizon Business can help deliver a fast, reliable network so that healthcare systems can take full advantage of those benefits. 5G is critical to the ongoing digital transformation of hospitals and medical facilities seeking to make clinicians’ jobs much less onerous.
Remote care
Remote care has become a major need in the healthcare industry. Offering remote video consultations is a tremendous value-add, especially for elderly patients and those who live in rural locations and other remote areas. For telehealth to be viable, however, a reliable, secure network connection needs to be established; 5G connectivity enables efficient remote video consultation services between patients and doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Additionally, 5G-powered solutions allow clinicians and other medical staff to collect biometric data and monitor patient vitals in near real-time through the use of IoMT trackers and other wearables. By incorporating advanced tools, such as AI, clinicians have the option to utilize predictive analytics and anomaly detection in order to anticipate and respond to health issues as quickly while also making proactive care recommendations. Clinicians can use video feedback to monitor their patients taking their medication. High-definition video may also allow clinicians and caregivers to improve remote diagnosis, but HD video demands a high-capacity network to work properly — something 5G can deliver.
Unlocking digital silos
Hospitals produce and process a tremendous amount of patient, employee and proprietary data. Diagnostic imaging is especially bandwidth-intensive, and transferring such large files can take a lot of time. This processing lag can end up creating data silos in other locations, such as laboratories, that may impede a clinician’s ability to treat patients in a timely manner.
A 5G network boasts more capacity than legacy networks, with download speeds up to 100 times greater than 4G, for instance. This increased capacity and speed can effectively unlock data silos, arming clinicians with patient data when they need it. Utilizing other sophisticated connectivity solutions, such as private 5G and Mobile Edge Compute (MEC), can furnish clinicians with near-real-time insights by rapidly collecting and analyzing data from wearables and other connected medical devices.. This connectivity can enable advanced capabilities, such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection, which can greatly enhance clinicians’ decision-making. Advanced connectivity solutions can also facilitate real-time interactions between patients, healthcare providers and medical devices, resulting in more real-time, personalized, data-driven care.
Asset tracking
Clinicians need immediate access to medical devices and other tools in order to do their jobs properly, but keeping track of equipment such as wheelchairs, insulin pumps and even beds can be a tall order. In fact, nurses, who are often tasked with tracking down said equipment, spend a lot of time searching for it. A third of nurses spend an hour each shift doing exactly that. That adds up to about 20 hours a month hunting down equipment. Multiply that by dozens of nurses working in a given hospital, and a picture of the staggering amount of time wasted on locating medical equipment starts to develop.
Thankfully, 5G solutions can lay the groundwork for smarter hospitals that can better detect where their equipment is at all times. In such an environment, medical equipment can be fitted with GPS-enabled IoMT devices that connect to the local network, empowering nurses and other healthcare professionals to efficiently locate the nearest available equipment by pulling up a real-time view of inventory.
A bright future for clinicians
Clinicians have a tough job in the best of times, but over the last few years they’ve been stretched thin, confronted with an unprecedented global health crisis while simultaneously having to incorporate a suite of new tools into their repertoire. The silver lining is that the digital transformation of the healthcare industry is helping to reduce administrative burden while furnishing clinicians with advanced healthcare tools that drive better health outcomes. The key to this is a 5G network that can deliver the speed and capacity that enables those solutions. With those in hand, clinicians have the potential to be more effective than ever before.