It’s taken some time for the medical field to finally warm up, and fully embrace the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a set of collaborative SaaS or Software as a Service protocols in the everyday workflow of medical practices and physician offices.
With the deployment of software-based technologies, medical practitioners are now enabled to streamline their working and processing procedures. With the adoption of the internet, and remote communication tools.
With better understanding and integration, the medical field is now able to branch out into various avenues of health care provision, patient care, aftercare, communication efforts, administration, and with growing demand improve imaging workflow through the use of cloud-based technology.
The use of the internet and all its various entities has enabled practitioners, and medical facilities to upgrade their framework, helping the industry find more advanced and tech-based solutions, and revolutionizing healthcare.
In the wake of the global pandemic, medical health care systems and facilities were overrun, seeing demand increase rapidly as patient anxiety rose due to growing fears of the highly transmittable COVID-19 variant.
The toll the pandemic took on our health care systems is now more clearly realized, with increased mental exhaustion of medical personnel, overused and worn hospital infrastructure, more so, the growing backlog of healthcare procedures put aside to address pandemic-related issues.
While the demand for better and more efficient healthcare is only growing, research indicates that developed nations will be spending around 20% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare systems by 2050. Improving and upgrading systems is one strategy, another is making more efficient use of tech and cloud-based technologies that can help build better medical imaging solutions.
Using cloud-based software and technologies is now changing the industry completely, there’s a reason for it to improve the efficacy of imaging workflow. Here’s our take on it.
Workflow Automation
Right from the start, we can see how cloud-based imaging solutions can help create an autonomous working environment. While we still feel, and believe that physical human intervention is the best foot forward in the field of medicine, up until now we can understand that using cloud technology, practitioners and physicians can help streamline the imaging process – eliminating errors, and improving image quality.
In a survey conducted on radiology technologists, around 23% of surveyed individuals felt that their work is inefficient and that automation could help improve the development of smart workflow tools.
The autonomous working environment may already be present in other industries, but when it comes to medical imaging, technology, software, and cloud-based interceptions can find new ways in which medical technologists can address traditional issues, and use tools to better improve their workflow.
Prioritizing More Important Patients
With the use of a cloud-based system, technologists are now able to effectively conduct imaging protocols and upload images and scans directly onto their cloud servers. From here, internal processing and AI functions will be able to monitor the severity of each new upload, which in return will automatically prioritize more important and severe scenarios.
From here, it’s possible the scans can then be automatically ranked at the top of the available physician, while radiologists may still be conducting the scan, and uploading any additional findings or information.
This is probably the best example of how cloud-based tech can improve imaging workflow. Instead of having to take notes, and file possible findings, only then after having to read it into a system – technology can prioritize more severe cases above others, searching for available medical personnel, helping to minimize time used to retrieve diagnosis and treatment.
Better Collaboration Efforts
Linking various patient documents and medical information all in one place was usually done through sharing multiple copies of the needed information via the internet, and before that through faxed medical scripts.
It’s now possible that the use of cloud technology can effectively collaborate all patient information into one secure and easily accessible platform, making it more convenient for imaging technologists to share their findings and diagnosis, remotely contribute relative data and analysis, and automatically select relevant information to dispairs.
These tools and internet-based features are not only important to share patient data and information, but it also allows for a more macroscopic view of patient data from various departments to help establish a treatment pathway.
It’s now easier for medical practitioners to access the necessary information without having to be physically in a certain place. Remote access and virtual meetings are also now easier, and a lot more streamlined without the need for physical interaction, or in-person collaborations.
Information Security
Instead of having patient information documents and images on hand, the cloud offers a vast chasm of nearly unlimited space to upload patient data and information. With this, physicians will be able to have better access and control over patient information.
Storing data and information in a seemingly invisible cloud not only makes it better for remote collaboration but also makes it more secure.
Storing a large amount of data and patient information on computers and hard drives that are directly associated with the medical practice can perhaps lower costs, but it increases the risk of it being lost to cybersecurity threats or in the event of computer systems failing.
Cloud systems are a bit more robust than needed, but according to Norton, using cloud-based technology and storage systems information will have automated security updates, third-party security tracking, pre-installed firewalls, and can backup data within the cloud itself.
In regards to security measures and protection of patient data, we see how cloud-based systems and technology are easily more secure, lowering data breaches and system vulnerabilities.
Customization
Depending on the need for cloud technology within each practice or medical technologist, system software can allow for better customization and personalization. This can help practitioners, and imaging technologists create a digital space whereby they can have better control over patient information, data and establish personalized analysis.
On the other hand, it’s not just useful within the medical field for imaging technologists, it also makes it a lot more convenient for patients to have clear-cut insight and information regarding their scans.
With the use of more advanced technology and cloud-based software, imaging technologists will be able to have better control over how they can handle and track patient information without it overlapping their schedules, or being lost. In retrospect, it’s easy to realize that the more one can customize imaging efficacy, the better it’ll improve workflow.
A Final Thought
With cloud-based technology systems and software still somewhat in their infancy in regards to imaging technology and scans, we can already witness the impact it can have on the overall workflow.
Imaging technologists, physicians, and medical practitioners can now leverage these tools to better understand patient information, establish diagnosis and treatment, and improve remote collaborations.
Overall, cloud-based technology and software systems can be easily integrated with pre-existing systems, harnessing the power of human ingenuity and combining modern technological advancements.
