Introduction
The technology in the context of healthcare has been growing at an exponential rate and the foreseeable future of this sector will look significantly different from current realities. In the next eight years especially we will be seeing drastic changes in diagnosis and treatment based on AI and Wearable and other technologies. In this article the author describes various health tech devices that will reshape the market in the next few year.
1. AI-Driven Diagnostic Tools
Diagnostics for our future healthcare system will not be far from how AI is positioned to revolutionalize it becoming better, faster, and specialised. Diagnostic tools which have been developed by AI will make it easier and faster to diagnose and treat diseases due to early intervention. Some of the most promising AI-driven diagnostic tools include:
a) AI-Powered Microscopes
In addition to sophisticated imaging, autonomous microscopes will use machine learning to detect the cells/tissues in real time. These microscopes will be in a position to detect unusual changes in human body hence can be used to detect diseases like cancer early.
b) Virtual Pathology
Artificial intelligence for diagnosis of pathology slides is used in virtual pathology and will produce accurate and timely results. This technology will assist pathologists when it comes to characterizing cells and tissues to enable better diagnosis and treatment in future.
c) AI-Driven Wearable Devices
Smart wearable devices with some form of artificial intelligence will be able to pick on certain concerning aspects concerning the health status of the user and automatically inform the medical practitioners concerned; this would lead to more effective control of some of these conditions. These devices will also be capable of monitoring, measuring and even interpreting the user’s physiological status, his or her state of health in other words.
2. Wearable devises and telemonitoring
We are going to see advanced mobile technologies—wearables and remote monitoring systems—help improve quality of care and reduce costs. This means on time information to the patient’s status will be provided by these gadgets, and thus the healthcare givers will be in a position to respond to the patient early enough so as to prevent any effect. Some of the most innovative wearables of the future include:
a) Smart Clothing
To be specific, it means glowing shirts, communicating socks, and even wireless under garments or what is now referred to as “e-textiles”. These garments will include biosensors to detect a patient’s vital signs, movements, and other health indicators, enabling health care practitioners to have an up close view of their patients’ health.
b) Wearable Biosensors
Smart clothes biosensors shall not only monitor biomarkers that reflect certain diseases but also detect diabetics, heart diseases, and mental diseases. These devices will educate the patients on what they are going through thus allowing them to prevent complications relating to their various illnesses.
c) Telemedicine Devices
Through telemedicine devices, patient will be able to get a connection with the healthcare providers and will keep on being monitored and diagnosed. They said the focus of these devices will be in wearables where physiological data is captured and sent to the health care practitioners, and mobile units where patients interact with the health care team via a telemedicine session.
3. This article will focus on 3D Printing and Personalized Medicine.
3D printing technology is taking over the society and bringing a drastic change specially in the heathcare sectore. 3D printing is being applied to patient care more and more, by enabling the printing of phantom limbs, implants, and more specifically tailored for each individual patient. Some of the most innovative 3D-printed health tech devices of the future include:
a) Personalized Implants
Through 3D printing, it will be easy to develop implants that are tailored to fit a specific patient due to the peculiarity of his/her anatomy. These implants will be made incorporating MRI and CT scans, which are modern imaging means; the better adaptation of the implants will result in better treatment for patients.
b) 3D-Printed Prosthetics
Advanced three dimensional printed prosthetics will be lighter and cheaper than the ones currently existing. These devices will be created to resemble the user’s remaining limb or the form of his limb which has been amputated to enable them to fit well and be comfortable to use. Also, using 3D printing, one will be able to design and develop individual prosthetic limbs, which could easily be changed affordances or adjusted depending on the patient’s ever changing needs.
c) Personalized Drug Delivery
Through adoption of the 3D printing technology, medication delivery devices can now be designed as muscular and tendon specific to each patient’s needs. Such systems shall be tailored to let off the drug at the right rate and in the right dosage to achieve the best results with few or no side effects.
4. Virtual and Augmented Reality
The technologies like Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are forecasted to be most influential in healthcare field where it can be applied for patients’ teaching process, training or therapy. Enabling users to live in the realistic environment has prompted VR and AR in facilitating learning and treatment of various ailments. Some of the most innovative VR/AR health tech devices of the future include:
A) Virtual Reality aided Surgical Simulation
With drastic advancement in VR technology, VR will be used in training of Surgeons and medical practitioners because it is very close to surgery. This will then allow final rehearsal of operations and so reduce complications among patients actually conducted on them.
b) AR-Assisted Rehabilitation
We will leverage the use of AR technology to enhance the experience of our patients receiving their rehabilitation therapy for instance patients with stroke, Parkinson’s disease or spinal cord injury among others. These therapy sessions will be conducted according to the individual patient requirements of the patient making the process both efficient and enjoyable.
c) Mental health therapy using Virtual Reality
The VR technology will be used to progress the efficiency of improving treatments for patients with mental disorders: the therapeutic process will have interactive qualities that are designed to tap into the patients’ senses for emotional and physical rehabilitation. For example, VR supported exposure therapy has been studied as an intervention for anxiety disorders, and as a method for problems solved one step at a time.
Conclusion
The expectation is that the healthcare environment will look quite different in the future, with health technology devices having a major impact. The healthcare technology devices of tomorrow will help us diagnose and further treat our health condition through the help of artificial intelligence, wearable biosensers also through the use of 3D printed prosthetics, and virtual reality therapies. With the constant new developments, we have witnessed in these technologies there is much more yet to be developed in the next years.
