At first glance, modern healthcare looks like a chaotic mess. Think about all those hospitals and medical centers, providers, medical staff, pharmaceutical and research companies, and even patients themselves, vying to fulfill their part in treating the ill and sick. What are the stats of the patient coming into the ER? Do we have enough supplies for the nurses up in ICU for the day? Does this patient's insurance cover their meals in that ward?
Healthcare IT (HIT), with its hospital computer systems and networks, has helped streamline many of these processes. Today, we cover five medical software programs used in HIT, from their purpose to the best hardware to run them.
What Does Medical Software Do?
Medical software refers to computer programs and digital technologies used throughout the healthcare industry. Also called medicine software and healthcare software, medical software specifically aims to ensure a high-level of patient care. Some uses include:
- Manage and organize patient data
- Schedule appointments
- Track providers' time
- Manage medical billing cycles
- Provide diagnosis
- Track clinical encounters
- Process prescriptions and lab results
Medical software is an essential part of today's healthcare system. Without it, tasks as simple as scheduling an appointment or bringing up a patient's record would become far more labor-intensive with greater chance of human error.
Which Software is Used for Medical?
A medical group's healthcare IT (HIT) sets up medical software to support medical personnel and non-medical support staff in performing their jobs. How the software does so varies on the needs and tasks of the employees.
Five of the most common are described below.
EHR / EMR - The most popular medical software
Electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) are the most popular applications of medical software. Both, as their names imply, deal with the patient's health history with files filled with details as:
- Current and past medication use
- Doctors' diagnosis
- Past procedures
- Prescription details
- Invoice and payment information and history
For many, EHR / EMR is the most critical medical software in healthcare. Providers, with their patients' information literally at their fingertips, can support better patient outcomes while reducing errors and improve patient safety.
Epic, Cerner, and Meditech are the most popular EHR medical software.
Telehealth / Telemedicine - Virtual doctors' appointments
Telehealth, also referred to as telemedicine, allows healthcare professionals to carry out appointments with patients online via a web browser, app, or video. The technology saw a massive surge in use during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic subsides, many patients continue to use the healthcare software due to convenience in scheduling with their busy lives, its less costs, or lack of hassle with transport issues.
Doxy.me, Teladoc, and Sesame Care are well-known medical software used in telemedicine.
Remote Patient Monitoring - Patient care from a distance
Medical software in remote patient monitoring (RPM) allows providers to collect data from patients located outside of the hospitals or medical clinics. Advantages to this technology range from early detection and diagnosis of potentially dangerous issues like a heart attack, to aiding patients in treating their chronic conditions like diabetes.
RPM medical software by Athelas is a popular example.
Medical Image Analysis software - Burnout prevention
Today's providers are bombarded with massive amounts of data on their patients' conditions. Many like radiologists have suffered burnout because of it. To help manage this overload, medical groups are turning to programs like medical image analysis software. This health care software can process the large amounts of image data generated from such medical scanning devices like CT scans and MRIs. They highlight potentially cancerous masses or similar disease processes, making it easier for the provider to correctly evaluate a patient's condition as well as focus on matters that require their immediate attention.
Medical Diagnosis software - Near-future virtual providers
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to increased use of this medical software. These programs not only gather information from various sources like EMR and images, but the AI analyzes them to suggest forms of treatment. It is hoped this will speed up diagnosis, improve treatment, and reduce costs.
The five above are just a sample of medical software found throughout healthcare. Many can be customized for specific healthcare needs. Others like e-prescription, personal health record, and remote medical training software will be explored in the future.
Best Computer Hardware for Medical Software
Unsurprisingly, medical software is tailored to the unique requirements of healthcare. The hardware to run it effectively should also be as specialized. Healthcare IT should look for medical computers and medical grade tablets with the following features:
Medical Grade
Many of the medical devices and equipment found in clinics and, especially, hospitals are complex and essential for patients' survival. It makes it important that computers do not interfere with them. Medical-grade computers have been tested and certified to work with hospital equipment. They can be trusted near patients as well as in sensitive areas like surgical theaters.
Fanless Design
Off-the-shelf computers are noisy. This can interfere with a patient's rest. Computers with fanless design, as the name implies, don't use fans. They stay cool through other means. This means a better rest for the patient which in turn helps in healing and recovery.
Fanless design also helps with cleaning and disinfection. They have no fans to accidentally take in powerful cleaners and disinfectants which can damage the delicate computer interior.
IP65 Rated
Hospitals do a lot of cleaning and disinfection, unfortunately, the powerful cleaners and disinfectants used can damage off-the-shelf computers. They can enter through the bezels around the screen as well as through the fan system.
The solution is medical computers which have an IP65 Rating. This means the bezels - as well as the rest of the computer - are properly sealed against liquids. Hospital staff can now spray and wipe away without concern of damaging the PC.
Closing Comment
Medical software, from EMR to diagnosis programs, help organize and simplify many operations in the healthcare industry.
Contact an expert at Cybernet if you're a healthcare group and are looking for what medical computers work best with your current and future medical software.
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