Medicine & Technology: Making Medical Admin Easier
Administration can be extremely tiresome, especially if you are running around looking after patients. Doctors and other healthcare professionals are the last people we need bogging down by typing up charts, filing etc - the easier these tasks are made, the more time spent with their patients. The administration staff at hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices will also be thankful for a more efficient means of communication within the medical environment. This is where technology steps in. There are now ways and means that help patients, doctors and admin staff in the everyday tasks in healthcare.
We are going to be talking through the ways that technology can help make medical admin easier for everyone involved in the process.
Digital Health Apps
Digital Health Apps like Jinga Life is paving the way for people to take their health and well being into their own hands. This proactiveness can lead to a healthier population, as we have more access to our own health information, tracking any illnesses we may have, and monitoring our exercise and overall well being.
However, at some stage, everyone will need the help of a doctor and thus become a patient. By patients using a digital health app, doctors now have access to a multitude of information pertaining to general health, test results, illnesses, and allergies, right at their fingertips. GDPR compliant Apps, like Jinga Life, that allow for the sharing of information with doctors means information is easily accessible to doctors. Scan and X-Rays can be displayed on a screen instantly rather than waiting for prints or CDs. There is also reduced use of paper meaning plenty of environmental benefits.
Medical Transcription
“Medical transcription, also known as MT, is an allied health profession dealing with the process of transcribing voice-recorded medical reports that are dictated by physicians, nurses and other healthcare practitioners”, (Wikipedia). The process of medical transcription can be lengthy. Now technology is being developed to enable the automatic transcription of what might be said between doctors and their patients. Irish News reported that Google is working on technology that will “not only transcribe the conversation but take relevant notes automatically, reducing workload and freeing up time for doctors to focus on patients.” The automatic transcribing of medical information is very cost-effective, it also saves a lot of time. The voice recognition technology allows for accurate transcribing.
Virtual Assistant
Speaking of voice recognition, digital assistants that allow you to speak to them hands-free can make medical professionals life that little bit easier. Virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s ‘Google Home’ have been adopted by the masses in the running of the home or office. Virtual assistants have also been developed with a focus on the medical community. Suki is an example of the virtual assistant with a focus on doctors. Suki’s developers say “Suki is an AI-powered, voice-enabled digital assistant for doctors. We want to give our users superpowers to make them happier and more productive while solving some of the biggest problems in healthcare.”
Virtual assistants for doctors and healthcare professionals are designed to make tasks more manageable. Taking notes, or writing a reminder on a post-it can be inefficient when you have a lot to remember. By having a virtual assistant who activates on command, you can ensure you’ll be reminded of tasks to be completed throughout the day. There’s also less chance of misplacing a virtual assistant as you might with a piece of paper or post-it notes.