Would you have imagined 15 years ago what mobile phones would become and what benefits they would offer to billions of people around the world? What if something similar happens with healthcare? Smart capabilities and connectivity are the present and the future of technology in healthcare: just think of diagnostic imaging that has gone – just like phones – from being something physical and static to a dynamic and connected element within a system of systems, which continues to evolve.
However, the development of true connected care cannot be based on mere technological advancement: as claimed Sean Carney, Chief Experience Design Officer & Business Leader Healthcare Transformation Services at Philips, innovation needs to start from people’s real needs and experiences, that is, involving healthcare professionals and patients from the very beginning. Otherwise even the most advanced technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the lead, will prove useless or, in the worst case, a trap that consumes resources and energy, when instead they should facilitate work and relationships (both between doctors and between them and patients), just like smartphones do today.
Three requirements for smart innovation
Here, then, what the requirements should be to design truly effective technological tools.
1- Respond to a real need
Learning from past mistakes, technological development must leave the laboratory and immerse itself in the daily reality of the people whose life it would like to improve. You have to look beyond the technology itself to understand where and how it will be used, identifying points of interest and mapping opportunities along the workflow. For example, the artificial intelligence-based systems thus devised could optimize the scheduling of patient exams, help in the selection and preparation of outcomes to avoid unnecessary repetition of exams, or save time by automatically integrating the results into reports. .
2 – Simplify
Technological innovations should simplify – and not complicate – the work of healthcare professionals, and exploit the full potential of the tools, without taking away precious time. For example, it is enough to support radiologists during their days to realize that, in the complexity of their work environment, the proposal of further solutions, in addition to those already used, would not help them. In fact, they are already having to run several software applications in parallel on multiple monitors, pressured by the growing number of exam requests. Instead, it would be useful to develop AI systems capable of integrating with existing tools, for example to facilitate or speed up the retrieval of information.
3 – Be reliable
Finally, for doctors to adopt a technology, they need to have confidence in the instrument. A trust that is won with transparency on design and technical specifications, with clarifications on the logic behind its use and recommendations. Furthermore, the results returned by the support systems must be as understandable as possible.
How MRI has changed
Some of the best examples of technological innovation that focuses on people have already been implemented in the field of MRI. Still in the field of AI-based technologies, there are detection software (via cameras) that allow you to simultaneously monitor a hundred positions of the patient and his breathing, allowing even the less experienced operator to proceed with the preparation of routine exams. Some automated workflow supports, then, allow operators to focus more on the relationship with patients and less on the technical difficulties of the machines.
Furthermore, there are algorithms that speed up the acquisition of images: by reducing the time, they reduce the anxiety and stress of patients, forced into the narrow space of the magnetic resonance. “If medical devices and systems were designed with the same smart approach and the same connectivity capabilities as smartphones, the experiences of patients and staff could become much more enjoyable and without unnecessary difficulties”, he concludes. Henk van Houten, Chief Technology Officer of Royal Philips: “We could also increase the lifecycle of these devices if we were able to update and improve them as easily as we do with our smartphones.”