What digital constraints does healthcare face?

Digitisation has transformed every sector, healthcare included. It has opened up new opportunities and improved the quality of patient care. Technology now has a firm place in medicine, though it remains highly complex for many healthcare professionals. On top of that, collecting patient data on a mass scale raises ethical questions. Here are the obstacles that still have to be overcome if digital tools are to be used well in healthcare.

A lack of computer skills

A good many nurses and doctors have no real command of new technology. They have to call on colleagues for help in using care management software: writing up patient reports, sending files and so on. That lack of computer skills is therefore one of the main obstacles to using digital tools in healthcare. Some professionals also choose to do without computers altogether, because they are resistant to new technology.

Computers as a source of stress

Computers are sometimes a source of stress in healthcare. Entering data into the software means following a precise procedure, and most of that software is not tailored to the particular circumstances of each facility. Computer tools are also not immune to technical problems or bugs, which slow data handling down or make it impossible. All of that can be a considerable source of anxiety in a sector where nerves are already under constant strain.

The risk of health data theft

Bringing new technology into healthcare raises a problem of the first importance: protecting patients' personal data. Cyberattacks in the sector have grown exponentially in recent years, chiefly because medical information sells for at least 5 times more than ordinary data on the dark web. In recent years, for instance, SingHealth, Singapore's largest group of healthcare facilities, was targeted by several attacks in which hackers stole the information of more than 1.5 million patients. Between 2010 and 2017 in the United States, more than 150 million medical records were stolen by hackers. And that is not all: in 2018 alone, more than 500 health data breaches were recorded. These alarming figures confirm that the security of patient data has to be strengthened considerably if computer tools are to be used properly in healthcare. Another question remains, though: can doctors and healthcare professionals manage patient data without compromising its security? According to a report published by Verizon in 2018 (after analysing 1,368 incidents across 27 countries), 58% of data thefts involve complicit employees. The report also reveals that 21% of incidents involve stolen or lost computers holding unencrypted data. In short, these statistics show that internal actors can also be a threat to the safety of medical data if they are not properly trained in basic security measures. Monitoring has to be put in place too, so that fraud can be detected. Using platforms designed to manage and store sensitive data also matters. NetExplorer offers you its HDS-certified cloud (Health Data Hosting) to guarantee that data is managed effectively and securely.

The difficulty of keeping up with current trends

Innovation makes a great deal of progress possible in healthcare. New technology allows diagnoses to be reached quickly and raises the success rate of surgical procedures. It also makes it possible to build robots and devices that assist medical staff during operations. It has to be said, though, that many healthcare professionals find it difficult to keep pace with trends that change year after year. From artificial intelligence to augmented reality, by way of the Internet of Things and 3D printing, technology is moving at a prodigious rate. That represents a real challenge for people in the sector, who have to keep adapting. Learning to use a surgical robot, for instance, means long theoretical and practical training. And it is not necessarily easy for a practitioner of many years' standing to go back to learning and take on working methods entirely different from their usual routine. How effective robots are can also create anxiety, or a lukewarm response, among medical staff. Because some people in healthcare feel their jobs are under threat, they may keep their distance or show no interest in new technology. Yet AI and robots are there to assist healthcare staff, not to replace them.

The risk of medical devices being hacked

Most hospitals today are equipped with modern, latest-generation machines. Connected devices are increasingly attractive and have become essential tools in healthcare. According to one study, the telehealth market is growing year on year: it represented 49.8 billion dollars in 2018 and could reach 266 billion dollars in 2066. Behind those impressive figures, though, lies a permanent danger: the hacking of medical devices. Stealing and selling patient data is not the only lucrative activity for hackers. Connected inhalers, insulin pumps and cardiac stimulators are devices that can be hacked remotely and cause patients' deaths. One investigation revealed that many connected medical devices have no high level of protection. Worse, many machines share the same credentials so that large numbers of people in a hospital can use them easily. And manufacturers would rather compete on ergonomics and design than on security. There are also several other obstacles holding back the use of new technology in healthcare. Many patients do not want to use health apps, either because they do not know how or because they do not trust these programs. They still prefer face-to-face contact with care staff. Public wariness of telemedicine also remains a real barrier to digital tools becoming widespread in the sector. What stands out is that new technology is now unavoidable in medicine. Many obstacles get in the way of using these tools quickly and effectively, but managing data well through a platform such as NetExplorer, and training medical staff in what digital technology now demands, are already part of the answer to making that transition easier.