The digital upheaval that saw the world adopt new technology systems to replace the traditional ones resulted in various consequences for different people and organizations. Some of the consequences negatively impacted on lives, in scenarios where traditional industries ran out of business; a majority of the outcomes of the digital migration, however, came with added advantages. The healthcare sector was among the departments that positively benefited from the digital migration. By integrating their systems with the various advanced technology that emerged, they were able to expand their knowledge of different health conditions, diagnosis, and treatment, and therefore offer better services to the patients.
There are many implications technology had in the healthcare sector; ranging from medical equipment such as x-ray machines to the use of information technology such as websites, in medicine, battery powered germ-killer, or even the robot developed for the purpose of checkups. One of the technology inventions that took the medical field by storm was the introduction and development of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System. The EMR system stores digital health information such as a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, allergies, medications, laboratory results, medical reports, etc. Examples of such systems include eClinicalWorks, Care360, practice fusion, etc. The system functions as one big database where healthcare providers and patients share medical information.
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The EMR system has a broad range of diseases and conditions, and their signs and symptoms. This information makes it easier for a healthcare provider to offer a wee-informed diagnosis; the doctor/physician can refer to the visible signs and symptoms and the relatable diagnosis provided. This information reduces errors in misdiagnosis, which brings the diagnosed patient a step closer to recovery. The same database system offers possible treatment methods for the various diseases. It has an outlined procedure on how a doctor can go about treating patients with different diseases and also the drugs that that are most likely to cure those infections.
Physicians and medical scientists are progressively researching and experimenting new ways to help diagnose diseases and provide new treatment medicines and drugs. The EHR system helps with such situations. Through its ability to store data over time, research conducted by scientists and reports filed, in different parts of the world is easily availed to any other interested researchers. Through this, they can share ideas, offer new alternate procedures or point out to some errors in the research, thereby improving the quality and credibility of the results of that particular research.
Other than the ability to keep data more securely and over a longer period The EMR bears a lot of benefits, compared to the traditional methods of keeping medical records. The EMR system also consistently identifies and monitors patients’ vaccinations, screenings, blood pressure readings, etc. The information provided on the system improves the quality of medical care in the healthcare systems. By availing several types of research on particular diseases, scientists can join heads and provide possible cures to some of the diseases without cures. Also, the diagnosis within the system assists in making an accurate diagnosis to the various conditions.
The scope of these developing technology innovations is incredible. Technology will continue to spearhead majority of the changes and enhancements that the health care system experiences. So as to attain the goal of offering the best medical services to people, there are still more developments and advances that have to be made in the medical field. To reach that point, improvements in sensor technology, development of earlier intervention strategies. As we better and better our advance in medical technology, more knowledge and opportunities will open to us.
References
Ash, J. S., Berg, M., & Coiera, E. (2004). Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: the nature of patient care information system-related errors. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 11 (2), 104-112.
Dean, B. B., Lam, J., Natoli, J. L., Butler, Q., Aguilar, D., & Nordyke, R. J. (2009). Review: Use of Electronic Medical Records for Health Outcomes Research A Literature Review. Medical Care Research and Review, 66 (6), 611-638.
Kho, A. N., Pacheco, J. A., Peissig, P. L., Rasmussen, L., Newton, K. M., Weston, N., ... & Kullo, I. J. (2011). Electronic medical records for genetic research: results of the eMERGE consortium. Science translational medicine, 3 (79), 79re1-79re1.
