Healthcare is increasingly posing significant challenges to both society and the economy in many countries, with no signs of abating. Numerous studies have shown that smart hospital solutions will be a savior, providing more appropriate treatments and offering more flexible solutions.
However, the concept of a smart hospital lacks a comprehensive definition and widespread adoption, leading to misconceptions and ineffective implementations. Many applications considered "smart" are merely digitizing existing administrative tasks without fully exploiting the potential of smart technology. So, what must hospitals do to become truly smart in a comprehensive manner?
A smart hospital leverages data and insights from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support decision-making at every stage of patient care, providing healthcare professionals with the knowledge to improve care quality and optimize the care process.
Smart hospitals use a range of digital tools and devices to collect, analyze, and make real-time data-driven decisions, ensuring that healthcare professionals can make informed decisions and deliver high-quality care to patients.
Smart hospitals combine several advanced technological elements to optimize healthcare processes and enhance operational efficiency. So, what are the key factors that make a hospital truly smart?
Smart hospitals, or smart clinics, are equipped with a wide range of modern IoT devices, such as wearable health monitoring devices, smart beds capable of automatic adjustments, and other network-connected medical equipment.
These devices continuously collect critical patient data, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen levels, and instantly transmit this information to healthcare providers. This allows doctors and healthcare staff to monitor patients' health in real-time, make accurate analyses, and provide timely decisions, thereby enhancing treatment efficiency and patient care quality.
The Electronic Health Records (EHR) system plays a crucial role in smart hospitals by providing healthcare providers with secure and efficient access to patient information. These digital medical records are not only the foundation of smart hospital and clinic systems but also help streamline administrative processes, from data storage to information retrieval and medical history management.
The use of EHR reduces the potential for errors in manual processes, ensuring data accuracy and improving patient safety. With EHR, smart hospitals and clinics can make prompt, data-driven decisions, enhancing care quality and improving hospital management efficiency.
With its ability to analyze and learn from data, machine learning algorithms can assist healthcare professionals in making faster and more accurate decisions, enhancing treatment effectiveness and improving patient care quality. This not only helps minimize diagnostic errors but also optimizes medical processes in smart hospitals.
In Vietnam, VinBrain's AI-powered solution, DrAid™ Enterprise Data Solution, is considered a key enabler for hospitals to become comprehensively and efficiently "smart."
DrAid™ Enterprise Data Solution assists doctors in automatically generating medical reports following the standard report format from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). It also features speech-to-text technology available in 25 languages, allowing for rapid and easy report creation. Additionally, the DrAid™ ecosystem integrates the DrAid™ Copilot chatbot, a 24/7 virtual assistant specifically for doctors and managers. With its ability to swiftly and accurately respond to medical-related topics, DrAid™ Copilot helps doctors maximize their productivity comprehensively.
Smart hospitals integrate telemedicine platforms to provide remote consultation and follow-up care services, enabling patients to receive medical attention without being hindered by geographical distances. Through this technology, patients can connect directly with healthcare professionals via video calls, mobile applications, or smart medical devices, allowing for continuous health monitoring and timely treatment advice.
This greatly improves access to medical services, promoting healthcare equity, particularly for those far from medical facilities. It also eases the burden on central healthcare centers by distributing resources more efficiently.
Automated medication dispensing systems are a crucial component of smart hospitals (or smart clinics), ensuring the accurate and timely delivery of medications to patients. These systems use automation technology to manage the entire medication distribution process, from storage and sorting to dispensing.
By replacing manual medication distribution, automated systems help reduce errors, improve accuracy, and save time. This not only enhances efficiency in drug delivery but also contributes to improved patient safety while alleviating the workload on healthcare staff.
When implemented effectively and comprehensively, smart hospitals or smart clinics offer tangible benefits not only for patients but also for doctors and hospital management. These benefits include:
- Enhanced Patient Satisfaction: Patients receive personalized care, reduced wait times, and easier access to their health information, leading to a more satisfactory experience.
- Improved Medical Staff Efficiency: Healthcare professionals benefit from real-time data and insights provided by artificial intelligence (AI), enabling more accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions, and thus better patient outcomes.
- Streamlined Operations: Automation and data analytics help streamline hospital activities, optimize resource allocation, and reduce administrative burdens.
- Reduced Healthcare Costs: The efficiency improvements and reduction in errors and waste contribute to lower healthcare costs for both patients and healthcare providers.
- Data Protection: Ensures patient data privacy and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Despite the significant potential of smart hospitals, there are considerable challenges and barriers to overcome:
- High Initial Investment: The upfront cost of implementing smart technologies can be substantial, although it often results in long-term cost savings.
- Data Security and Privacy: Protecting patient health data from cybersecurity threats remains a critical and ongoing concern. Implementing smart hospitals requires continuous vigilance and investment in robust security measures.
- Increased Risk with Dependence on Technology: The greater the reliance on smart technology, the higher the risk to hospital operations in the event of a severe cybersecurity incident. Many hospitals have been victims of cyberattacks in recent years, and the sector faces persistent threats.
System Integration Challenges: Ensuring that various systems and devices can communicate and share data seamlessly remains a significant challenge in the healthcare industry.
Smart hospitals and smart clinics are expected to lead the future of healthcare, significantly transforming patient care, administrative processes, and healthcare delivery through advanced technologies and data-driven solutions. The impact will be profound across various aspects:
- Patient-Centered Care: Smart hospitals will prioritize patient-centered care by offering personalized treatment plans based on real-time data analysis.
- Telemedicine Expansion: Increased use of telemedicine will benefit patients in remote or underserved areas and alleviate the burden on central healthcare facilities.
- Operational Efficiency: Enhanced operational efficiency will lower healthcare costs and improve workforce allocation, leading to shorter wait times and a better patient experience.
- Preventive Care Focus: Continuous monitoring of patient health through wearable devices and remote tracking systems will shift the focus from reactive to preventive care. Early detection of health issues will enable timely interventions, reducing hospital admissions.
Sources:
https://www.alert-software.com/blog/smart-hospitals-what-are-they
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1386505623003222
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