The usage of data here helps minimize the chances of missing that piece of the puzzle that we talked about earlier and broadens our views on how linking data with systems across organizations boost the healthcare system.
On one of his expeditions, Charles Darwin coined the term “Evolution,” concluding “it” to be the only way of the continuation of life. The healthcare sector had similarly evolved, from back in the day it was “invented” to the 1960s and the present 2021s. Compared to previous decades, we no longer have to wait in long queues to get ourselves checked, fight for the limited resources, or suffer illnesses with no cures or treatments, at least to a certain extent.
However, the healthcare system that we see today is still a huge complex puzzle. Each piece depicts a certain understanding of the whole picture. Missing even a single piece of this puzzle can change the complete viewpoint of our perception, and that one small piece at that micro-level detail, is actually a part of a bigger picture. The Swiss Cheese Model, for example, helps us in our understanding of patient care. Each piece of this cheese represents a person or a process, when correctly aligned, works well and functions smoothly. But when the alignment is improper, and such imperfections are lived with an error, it can be life-threatening as a whole, not affecting that one piece but the structure as a whole.
Data is gold – and is only getting more valuable
The integration of data into healthcare has been a revolutionary one. Much like the theory of evolution, data, too, was first utilized to target consumers to enhance their experience across multiple industries and is now evolving to enhance the healthcare experience. In a world such as today’s, the main motive of technological creators is to use and pick the technology that solves the problems of the many and can be utilized by the healthcare stakeholders at various levels and ultimately improve patient care. From creating a 360-degree customer experience, wherein data played a significant role in analyzing the desires, preferences, and opinions, to a Patient-360 experience analyzing the patient care aspects – healthcare is shifting towards a data-driven future across the globe.
With an emphasis on individualizing each patient’s health and creating personalized treatments for each individual, data gives you a chance to look at the body’s functioning as a whole instead of focusing solely on specifics. It ensures eliminating the smallest of errors that can otherwise initiate a cascade of events. This need has given rise to healthcare technology players to create a huge impact. Today, healthcare organizations are leveraging the services of both experienced clinicians and expert tech leaders in tandem to build not only the best products they can offer but solutions that can make life easier for patients, care providers, administration staff, and all other stakeholders in the care cycle.
Accelerated Innovation in Healthcare + Evidence-based Care + Data Digitization = A sound patient care
Why are some healthy and some not so healthy?
The usage of data here helps minimize the chances of missing that piece of the puzzle that we talked about earlier and broadens our views on how linking data with systems across organizations boost the healthcare system.
With the help of data, we can add variables that explain why things happen in healthcare the way they do. The new variables keep on adding to the list, making us innovate and create an effective treatment plan for each patient suffering from the same disease.
Some of us are complex human beings, while some are simple in ways, and when we try to understand why things are different in both of these cases, the variables get added up. Today, we have technologies that allow us to study these very variables, present in large numbers to explain why some are healthy and some are not. Additionally, the fact that large health organizations now have the opportunity to analyze and identify patterns at a population health level, thanks to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, has only given wings to the desire to provide evidence-based care.
Personally, I believe that we need scalable products to tap the true value out of the available data in a manner that could practically save lives. Data platforms are the future, and there is a need to build a “health cloud ecosystem” that provides a 360-degree view of the patients. Such innovation paves the way for delivering plug-and-play connectivity to get the right information in the right moment of care.
The road ahead
In this digital age of medicine — all we need is delivering a true strategic intervention that establishes a future-forward foundation for accelerating healthcare’s transformation. And data is a prime way. After all, it is the new gold that provides real insight into a powerful future, improving the kind of care given to the patient.
If we wish to see a change in the healthcare system and improve patient care, we need to use data, research methods, and data analytics extensively. Rephrasing the words of someone wise, “We know that each and every day, all of us have an opportunity to become a patient, and because of that, we want, and we need to create the best cure possible.”
Source: Business World
