Data is fueling progress in the healthcare sector everywhere in the world, as hospitals, healthcare providers, insurance agencies, and researchers around the world rely on it to provide their services to patients and those in need.
However, collecting this data is not an easy task for anyone within the healthcare system, primarily due to one key element: that we are human with limited capabilities.
new experiences
Medical experiences change with each new disease or treatment that is discovered, and the Corona pandemic revealed that the global health care system was not prepared to deal with such a disaster, and humanity and the medical sector gained important experiences that changed many previous concepts, and the reason for this change is due to Technology that has enabled a rapid transformation in the development of effective vaccines and treatments.
For example, with the technological development taking place using artificial intelligence, it has become possible to examine the symptoms of many diseases at home and confirm them before deciding to go to the doctor, as stated by a study conducted by scientists from the Canadian University of Waterloo, and published on the university’s platform recently.
Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, large amounts of data were successfully collected and analyzed to learn disease patterns, and this new data was added to the previously existing ones, all of which helped advance medical research that helped develop effective vaccines.
But what if the “Covid-19” virus evolved into a more powerful and deadly strain and we did not have the technology to track it or study it effectively? We would surely have lost more human lives in the time we spent collecting, transmitting, and analyzing data.
The virus is also a great example of how big data technology has evolved. There has been a lot to understand during the pandemic in terms of research results, treatment diversity, and shortcomings in medical infrastructure.
Big data processing methods during the pandemic have significantly shortened the reaction time that we would expect without the current technological infrastructure, according to a recently published World Economic Forum report.
At the start of the epidemic, predictive analysis of the virus helped assess how it might spread (Shutterstock)Predictive data analytics
At the beginning of the epidemic, the predictive analysis of the virus – which spread in the Chinese city of Wuhan – helped to assess how the virus could spread throughout the world, and at a time when it was still difficult to fully understand the capabilities and danger of the virus, but by analyzing big data, we could To know that there is a global epidemic coming.
Throughout the epidemic and so far, this data-based predictive analysis has helped predict the next waves of the disease in many countries, and it is also possible to assess the expected impact of each wave by understanding data points, such as health care infrastructure and population density in this or that country, All this was not possible a few decades ago.
Today, technical models based on artificial intelligence are constantly improving themselves to predict the severity of the spread of diseases and their impact in certain regions of the world, according to a study prepared by a group of scientists and recently published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.
The use of these models is not limited to infectious diseases only, but is also used to understand how chronic diseases develop, and this scientific progress is called “precision medicine.” These models have provided specialized medical care for people with chronic diseases based on the study and knowledge of factors their own individuality, such as genes, lifestyle, and environment.
Artificial intelligence is also used to detect diseases through medical imaging techniques. Human errors often occur in diagnosis due to misunderstanding of medical images that may overlook very small but very important details for disease diagnosis, and here data collection can help over time and from all With the help of artificial intelligence and big data, a lot of resources can now be directed to focus on innovation to treat diseases effectively.
development of medicine
There are many shortcomings in the health care system that technology aims to address, and the first shortcoming is the appropriate allocation of human and material resources that can help save time, effort and money, which will make health care – a basic human right – available to all .
Automation in manufacturing also allows for greater precision in the manufacture of devices and medicines, eliminating the possibility of errors such as those that were made using previous manual and traditional methods.
The technology is also increasing the scope for combining technologies, such as the use of robotics and telemedicine, that will help deliver needed health care in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
The Corona epidemic has also led to the acceleration of innovation in the field of health technology, which necessitated the existence of global international cooperation between various countries to collect and analyze big data in the short time that it took for the virus to spread globally.
Medicine is looking to technology to fill the gaps revealed by the epidemic, and it is expected that health care protocols, efficiency in developing drugs and vaccines and methods of production, and the necessary safety and protection tools will be at the forefront of future innovations.
Nanomedicine, smarter health trackers and having your lab in an electronic chip that you carry with you are some of the technologies of the next decade that are currently being worked on, and mastering this technology could also help personalize healthcare, which is a basic requirement of humanity in the future.
Technology will eliminate the medical methods currently used, represented in providing medical care to the group as if it were one person, which does not take into account the subtle differences between humans. The future medicine is specialized medicine, where the appropriate treatment will be provided to each person individually and in accordance with his situation and his body, which is his mark. own.
