Primary health care and digital technology development have existed in tandem for the past few decades. As digital technologies progress though, health care is often seen to be playing a ‘catch up’ role. Despite a lack of synthesis between these two elements, digital technologies continue to play a major role in how primary health care is provided.
More recently, COVID-19 has taken center stage in being a strong promoter in the field of healthcare. But how is COVID-19 performing as a driver in this industry and what other digital technologies are shaping the future of primary health care?
- COVID-19 and the digital technology transformation
COVID-19 saw the world’s medical organizations spring into action to contain the spread of the virus. One such digital technology strategy became visible in the form of a surveillance mechanism to minimize the spread of this infectious pathogen. Other than surveillance, digital technology was employed in testing and tracking anyone who was thought to have been exposed to COVID-19.
Stringent quarantining strategies were implemented in South Korea following the use of digital technologies, limiting the necessity of an extended economic and social lockdown. South Korea has long been an early adopter of digital technologies in the health field and other areas, which is one of the reasons that its containment of the virus was so successful.
- Digital long-distance learning
As the quest to continue to improve health services grows, the drive to educate upcoming medical students remains a focal point. Educational institutions must remain up to date by providing students with current digital information. As the field of digital technology progresses rapidly, students must know what tools are available to aid them with the care of patients.
Lecturio is one online learning platform that has attracted attention in this area as a premium source of digital medical education. Employing top medical minds from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins, and University College London, this company also employs the latest learning techniques. Its goal—to offer students the most relevant USMLE online courses to keep them abreast of digital technology usage in the medical environment.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data
Both AI and big data resources have been leveraged to augment the management of COVID-19 and other potential pandemic situations. Tools such as migration maps have been employed for the SARS virus which was first pinpointed as originating in China in 2003.
Migration maps are generated to identify where the largest outbreaks of a virus are across the globe. AI projection techniques and machine learning are then implemented to generate data that is analyzed to determine the spread of the virus. Outcomes are applied in government surveillance and to restrict travel that helps limit the spread of any virus that has been identified as a major health risk.
- Cloud computing and mobile technology
Cloud computing has also been a valuable resource in maintaining strict quarantine control using geo-location technology. Additional technological inventions have allowed for the sharing of medical information such as CT scans over open-source networks. Instant sharing of data has proven to be instrumental in curbing the spread of disease. Cloud computing has therefore become a powerful feature in the field of medical care in this and many other ways.
Similarly, digital technology in the form of mobile technology has been used to identify asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19. Iceland embarked on a country-wide effort to collect data via mobile technology to manage the spread of this virus.
- Other digital technologies making a difference
Despite the disruptive nature of COVID-19 on global primary healthcare resources, digital technology has also appeared in many other forms.
- Predictive healthcare
- Preventive healthcare
- Telemedicine
- 3D Printing
- Blockchain and clinical trials
Predictive healthcare digital technologies help project admission rates, and problem diseases through internet searches. Predictive healthcare helps with the management of healthcare facilities and resources on a global scale through data aggregation. Preventive healthcare focuses on nanomedicine which aids with patient diagnoses and the prevention and treatment of diseases.
Telemedicine is another digital innovation that has been leveraged to support the future of primary health care. Telemedicine involves video appointments from a distance between medical professionals and their patients. This tool continues to reduce waiting times, reaches those in rural areas, and helps to monitor the health status of patients remotely. Storing data to record changes forms part of this tool, which is invaluable to ongoing treatment.
3D technology is a growing field that is set to replicate synthetic organs and limbs and more. Blockchain technology is yet another strategy that is being captured to manage massive data flows for widespread clinical trials.
Final words
All these digital technologies are contributing value to the changing landscape of primary health care. As progressively innovative technologies come to the fore, the primary health care industry is becoming an institutionalized platform for exciting paradigm shifts for patient care in partnership with digital technologies.
