For many, the word “automation” conjures up images of assembly lines, robots moving cargo containers, and heavy industry. However, the world of healthcare automation is just as important and can reap benefits in almost every part of the sector.
From something as basic as an automated notification system for appointments to advanced surgical robotics, healthcare automation can help deliver a better experience for both patients and providers.
The Role of Healthcare Automation
In the generic sense, automation is the implementation of technology to handle tasks that used to be performed by people. In the industrial sector, this often means using robots and machinery to perform tasks that are particularly dangerous or repetitive. For healthcare, automation is often used to lighten the workload of healthcare providers or to provide them with new resources they would not have access to otherwise. The usage of automation is part of the ongoing digital transformation of healthcare that we see in the sector.
Automation in healthcare is used to:
- Streamline administrative tasks: Automated systems can take over tasks such as patient scheduling and handling paperwork, letting administrators focus on more critical issues.
- Enhance patient care and safety: Machines never get tired or distracted, making them perfect for roles where constant surveillance and awareness are critical.
- Optimize resource usage: Using AI-powered analysis tools, automation can help determine the optimal use of resources, such as patient bed usage or provider assignments.
- Improve research and diagnosis: Modern EMR systems can automatically share data such as lab results, heart rates, and oxygen levels between providers or medical AI for improved decision-making and diagnosis.
Types of Automation in Healthcare
Automation technology and techniques are being applied today in a multitude of applications, including:
- Automated Monitoring: Patients in a hospital must often be closely monitored, especially if they’re post-surgery or a high-risk individual. However, assigning healthcare providers specifically to this task can be an inefficient allocation of staff, who often have other duties to worry about and are susceptible to getting distracted or tired. An automatic system of cameras and sensors for detecting movement can monitor patients and alert providers if anomalous movement occurs.
- Patient Engagement: Appointment reminders, notifications, and surveys help providers keep patients engaged and prevent them from missing their appointments. However, sending these messages manually is a massive time-sink. Having an automated messenger synchronized with the hospital or clinic’s scheduling system to handle this duty requires minimal investment but saves a surprising amount of time.
- EHR Sharing and Management: electronic health records have been a revelation for the healthcare industry, making it easier to share information between providers. By automatically sharing and updating patient information via an EHR rather than relying on paper records, providers can stay up-to-date on their patient’s status. An AI trained on vocal recognition can also “listen” to a conversation between provider and patient and automatically fill in records as they go, saving the provider time and letting them focus on the patient’s needs.
- Robotic Surgery: Robots can be used in the surgery theater to automatically perform certain basic procedures, such as tying off sutures or closing a port site. Automated robots are also used in areas where extreme precision is needed, such as surgeries involving the patient’s corneas.
- Pharmacy Automation: Having machines measure, mix, and package medications rather than make pharmacists do so by hand helps ensure drug dosages are more precise and deliver better results for patients.
- AI-Enhanced Diagnosis: AI programs trained to spot visual indicators of disease, such as lesions during a colonoscopy, can assist healthcare providers during diagnosis efforts, leading to more accurate and effective care.
Benefits of Healthcare Automation
By implementing greater automation in healthcare, both medical groups and patients benefit. Let’s explore some of these benefits.
Improved Patient Outcomes
By automating non-critical tasks, providers can focus their time and energy on high-priority issues and treating patients. Automated technologies can help deliver more precise care, both in the operating theater and the pharmacy, which reduces recovery time and the chances of negative complications.
Minimizing Human Error
By automating processes, such as having patients input information on medical-grade tablets that can detect incorrect information, healthcare groups can prevent human-caused errors from ever occurring. AI connected to a patient’s EMR can also detect if their different medications will have negative interactions, preventing a potential medical accident from occurring. Lastly, machines don’t get distracted or fatigued, making them perfect for repetitive, time-consuming tasks or jobs that require long periods of vigilance, like patient monitoring.
Better Data Management
Healthcare providers have so much paperwork to fill out that it has its own term: “pajama time,” for when they’re technically off-work but still dealing with filing paperwork. Implementing AI programs to reduce this bureaucratic workload is a massive weight off their shoulders and lets them focus on what they actually care about: treating their patients. This can also lead to faster and more efficient billing and revenue cycle management, which helps healthcare groups be more efficient.
Lastly, automated data management makes interoperability much easier for the healthcare industry. EMRs that automatically update with every appointment and treatment ensure that every provider involved in a patient’s health is informed of the latest developments. Having this information uploaded to a managed cloud service also makes it much easier to find suitable candidates for drug testing and other experimental procedures, which can lead to new breakthroughs for the entire sector.
Embrace Automation with Cybernet Manufacturing
By integrating automation into their workflow, healthcare groups can enjoy lower costs, fewer errors, and smoother workflows for their operations. However, doing so requires the right equipment for both providers and patients to use.
If you’re looking to automate more of your processes, reach out to the team at Cybernet Manufacturing. Our healthcare computers and tablets are perfect for managing EHRs, monitoring patients, or helping in the surgery theater. We even offer medical edge AI box PCs that offer a new dimension of AI-enhanced healthcare tools.
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