Introduction
With the ever evolving world, the health care sector has seen massive changes in technology that have increased the efficiency of health workers in delivering their services. The changes have not only improved life but have also prevented many deaths across the world. Although some of the technologies have been expensive, the role they have played has since paid off, and many nations have adopted them. Many health care workers have also faced many challenges in their work of preserving life, especially in the rural areas. The paper focuses majorly on the new technologies in the health care industry, the major problems faced by health care providers in the rural setting and ways to promote quality and evidence-based health care service.
Problems Faced by Health Care providers in the Rural Areas
The healthcare workers in the rural areas experience many challenges in their bid to offer quality health services. Workforce shortage is first in the long list of problems faced by the health workers in this regards. With a low physician/nurse to patient ratio, it is difficult for the health workers to provide effective medical care to the patients. Few medical specialists in the rural setting have an implication in the dealing with critical conditions as stated by Grzybowski and Kornelsen (2013). The long distance covered by the medics has also negatively impacted on their general input due to their reduced levels of action upon a medical emergency. Poor health literacy and language barriers in the rural areas also have a negative effect in the treatment of the patients due to the wrong perception of information. Lack of medical insurance on the part of the citizens makes it impossible for them to acquire health services because they can hardly afford the medical bills especially in cases that require hospitalization.
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Because most rural settings are isolated and are majorly located in the periphery of the country, patients and health care workers have to undergo hustle to access these facilities. The low-income levels of the rural inhabitants almost guarantee that they cannot afford some of the hefty bills incurred in the hospitals. Some cultural and religious beliefs have also been a major stumbling block in the provision of medical care to the patients (Whitehead et al., 2016). Some religious practices do not allow women especially to be physically touched by a man who is a requirement, especially when being checked up by a male doctor or nurse. Some cultural beliefs in the rural settings forbid their congregants from going to the hospital. These affects the health care providers because most patients with such beliefs ultimately bow down to pressure and seek medical attention when their condition is beyond normal management.
Technologies that have Improved Patient Outcomes
To begin with, the revolution in the healthcare technology has seen the development of the robotic nurse assistant. With the many cases of nurses sustaining injuries during their hectic work that involves lifting and moving patients, there comes a need for someone to fill in. Robots have been invented in a bid to lift patients and move them to desired positions whenever a need arises. Different types of robots have since been invented including the full robots and the assisted robots. Full robots can lift a patient from the bed and even the wheelchair. The assisted robots help a health care provider to lift a patient with more stability and strength preventing them from sustaining injuries (Sultan, 2015).
Artificial retinas have also been invented thanks to the ever developing technology. With the rising cases of the blind people in the United States, many companies have developed sophisticated solutions towards restoring the sight of the people who have lost vision due to retinal degenerative infections. The development of a miniature device called the Nano-retina is implanted into the eye replacing the workability of the damaged photoreceptor cells creating a sensation and stimulation that is sufficient enough to activate the few healthy retinal cells. Sometimes the device comes as a complete package with a miniature chip and a set of eyeglasses as asserted by Sultan (2015).
Technological advances have also been laid in the area of prosthetics. With the many wars and violence of the world, the military has been victims of injuries that have led to their loss of limbs and sometimes central nervous system damages. This has further led to amputations rendering most of them either dead or immobile. Many companies have invented machines that coordinate the neural activity to control artificial prosthetic limbs in the body. The coordination is so flawless that it can be able to predict the patients’ moves enabling them to have a proper movement with ease.
Remote patient monitoring is another key hallmark of the technological overhaul in the health industry. The patient can be monitored for vital signs such as weight, blood sugar, heartbeat, blood oxygen levels, etc. The data is henceforth transmitted to health professionals in hospitals and used to make critical decisions about the health of the patient. Such an initiative is very important especially in the management of diseases that affect the old who cannot walk or move to the hospital on a daily basis.
Information Technology in Patient Management
Interoperability between health systems is also indirectly eased the management and treatment of patients. Health information exchange amongst the health community including the general practitioners, the nurses, pharmacist and the laboratory has been a critical component of healthcare delivery. This ensures a connectedness in the information of a given patient giving a detailed picture of the patient. The information system also guarantees a brighter future for the patients as information on their past ailments can be traced to ensure that their possible future infections are mitigated.
The information system has also enabled the sharing of health information across the world through programs such as LOINC that have especially been useful in connecting laboratory information. The information can be used to predict the future trends of diseases hence help the government and other relevant bodies to plan for the future health of its citizens.
To promote safe, quality, evidence-based to the patients and community at large, first of all, the health care organization must establish a culture that values teamwork and accountability. The organizations must also perform clinical analytics which involves integrating the patients' information into a safe data account. Providing an evidenced based healthcare involves carrying out research on drugs and basing most clinical judgments on the tests done in the laboratory.
In conclusion, it is important to highlight the revolutionaries that have been encountered in the health care industry as far as technology is concerned such as robotics, automated prosthetics, and the information technology. It is also worth appreciating the importance of providing quality and evidence based approach to treatment and the many problems faced by health workers and patients in the rural setting.
References
Grzybowski, S., & Kornelsen, J. (2013). Rural health services: finding the light at the end of the tunnel. Healthcare Policy , 8 (3), 10.
Sultan, N. (2015). Reflective thoughts on the potential and challenges of wearable technology for healthcare provision and medical education. International Journal of Information Management , 35 (5), 521-526.
Whitehead, J., Shaver, J., & Stephenson, R. (2016). Outness, stigma, and primary health care utilization among rural LGBT populations. PloS one , 11 (1), e0146139.
