Rising Trends in Digital Health: 5 Technologies that will Transform the Healthcare in 2022

Digital health can be defined as “the cultural transformation of how emerging innovations that make digital and objective data accessible to both caregivers and patients lead to an equal level doctor-patient relationship.”

Digital health innovations such as telemedicine, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and virtual reality surgical training continue to generate significant investment, assisting the sector in achieving global health equity.

Read on to learn about the five most important digital health trends and why they are important for health equity and the future of healthcare. Following are the trends:

1. Big Data: It collects information about a company from several sources, including social media, e-commerce, online transactions, and financial activities, and then finds patterns and trends for future use.

Big data may provide various significant advantages such as:

• The software can indicate inconsistencies between a patient’s health and medicine prescriptions through patient record analysis and notify health providers and patients when a medication mistake is going to occur.

• Predictive analytics using big data might help hospitals and clinics determine future admission rates, allowing them to assign resources better to deal with patients. When a facility is understaffed, this saves money and minimizes long waits in the emergency room.

In light of these advantages, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries should invest in data organization. This necessitates an investment in analytics professionals who can process the data to not only reveal the areas of weakness but also to assist organizations in better understanding the market.

2. Virtual Reality: Virtual reality seems to be a passing trend best suited for video games. Beyond gaming and entertainment, virtual reality (VR) technologies now provide a range of practical applications.

In healthcare, virtual reality (VR) aids in surgical training and planning, allowing both doctors and patients to become more confident and relaxed with treatments. There have also been several studies on the effectiveness of VR in the treatment of chronic pain and mental health issues. VR assists medical workers in expanding their skill set.

According to a study on the impact of VR training in healthcare, students who got VR training were able to perform medical operations much faster than the students who only received traditional instructions, and according to BIS Research, the global virtual reality market is expected to grow with a double-digit CAGR of 23.13% during the forecast period 2019–2025.

3. Wearable Medical Devices: Another aspect of the digital transformation in healthcare firms is the collection of health data via medical devices, particularly wearable technology.

Such devices include heart rate sensors, exercise trackers, sweat meters (to monitor blood sugar levels), oximeters, etc.

These may provide a number of substantial benefits, which include:

• Medical gadgets provide patients with a sense of ownership toward their health-improvement journey.

• Wearable device data can assist providers in more properly assessing a patient’s risk of disease.

• Some medical gadgets, such as fitness watches, allow users to set competitive objectives for themselves in terms of exercise, diet, and nutrition.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial intelligence (AI) is more than a trend in healthcare’s digital technology age. AI is the apex of medical innovation, and industry companies are keen to invest millions of dollars in it. According to BIS Research, the global artificial intelligence in healthcare market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.40% during the forecast period from 2021 to 2030.

Precision medicine, medical imaging, drug development, and genomics are some of the domains where AI’s true potential has been recognized.

For instance, patients with cancer used to have cookie-cutter therapies that had a high failure rate. These patients now have access to medicines suited to their genetic makeup and lifestyle owing to AI’s advanced pattern recognition.

5. Blockchain: Blockchain technology is expected to play a critical role in ensuring the accuracy and security of individuals’ electronic health information. It is a successful tool in the healthcare industry for minimizing data breaches, thereby enhancing the quality of medical information and lowering expenses.

Blockchain is a computer network and a digital ledger or a computerized database of transactions that lets customers securely communicate financial information with suppliers without the involvement of a third party such as a bank.

To summarize, the healthcare business is taking digital health innovation seriously, with the goal of improving the future and ensuring health equity for everyone.

Digital health trends are the driving factors behind health equality, which is all about making healthcare more accessible and affordable for everyone.