Care

In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful ally in enhancing patient care and streamlining clinical workflows. Among its many applications, AI is playing a pivotal role in assisting nursing professionals, revolutionising the way they deliver care and manage patient interactions. There are various ways in which AI can have a transformative impact on nursing care by improving efficiency, accuracy, and overall patient outcomes.

With the growth of telehealth, the remote care technology market has boomed as people begin to demand – and doctors begin to see the benefits of – more patient involvement in their care.

Remote care technology has been touted as an essential part of the digital healthcare revolution and I agree that they complete the ecosystem within which patient care becomes the focus. It allows patients to keep track of their health and recovery and doctors to track patients’ progress or provide convalescent care away from a healthcare facility.

The world is beginning to embrace health technology in a big way. So much so that the global care solutions market has expanded and is projected to continue to experience immense growth.

According to researchandmarkets.com, in 2021, the value of the global care management solutions market was estimated to be $13.2 billion. It is estimated that it will have a compound annual growth rate of about 13.3 per cent and, therefore, should be valued at approximately $27.9 billion by 2027.

In healthcare, the ability to diagnose early can be the difference between life and death or lifelong ill-health and costly medical care. Many times, ailments such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially cancers, can be better treated if they were detected early. Cancer is still among the top-10 causes of mortality in Jamaica and several NCDs fill out the rest of that list. Early diagnosis is key in many instances to prevent death or disability.

What if all of your healthcare providers could view your complete electronic medical record (EMR) before recommending treatment for the individual issue that they may be dealing with?

For example, it is often said that many illnesses can be first diagnosed through dental issues. Things like diabetes, for example, become apparent first in the oral cavity. Similarly, that and other non-communicable diseases can cause issues with the eye.

One of the best uses of technology in healthcare has been to facilitate the possibility of the connection of a holistic healthcare network that includes all services and caregivers and that has no geographic limitations. A truly connected system goes beyond hospital care to incorporate full patient care wherever that patient may be – at home or anywhere in the world.

For the past few years, the health system has been faced with the issue of overcrowding and a lack of beds to facilitate the number of persons who need to be admitted to hospital.

Healthcare is a demanding job and with a pandemic added, it becomes even more so, with many working more hours than they normally would have. This, along with several other factors, can lead to burnout.

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected the aged, so much so that restrictions are still in place for persons over age 65 to remain in lockdown despite many aspects of life and the economy reopening. It was clear from the beginning that persons who mostly get severe symptoms are those within this age group, especially because they have a higher likelihood of having comorbidities such as non-communicable diseases. In China, for example, as at February 2020, cardiovascular disease was singled out as the condition that had the highest correlation with COVID-19 fatalities.

The world over is dealing with the issue of ageing populations where the number of persons over 55 is steadily increasing while the number of children born to families reduces.

More persons are deciding to have one child or, maximum, two. Jamaica’s birthrate, for example, is approximately 2.01 per family while people are living longer due to advances in technology and improved health services. Living longer, however, does not necessarily equate to living healthier or having a better quality of life. Healthcare will be forced to catch up to this phenomenon.