Johnny Ma, Director of Healthcare & Life Sciences, Asia Pacific, Hitachi Data Systems gives valuable tips on how healthcare professionals should tackle Big Data effectively to ensure best outcomes
If there is anything that doctors understand, it’s how to analyse data!
In fact, the entire profession is built on developing an empirical understanding of the causes of diseases and the efficacy of treatments. And while brilliant inspiration plays a key role – take the discovery of penicillin for example – the majority of medical benefits come from analysing and understanding data sets, from which life-changing conclusions can be drawn.
But things are changing. In the past, the data might have come from a single source, such as a research programme. And even the Human Genome Project, which unlocked the secrets of our DNA, drew data from a very narrow set of sources.
Today, the big challenge that healthcare professionals face isn’t analysing data. It’s dealing with the so called ‘Big Data’ – the sheer volume of different kinds of information being generated every second of the day.
With the right tools, Big Data can be used in an unimaginable number of ways to advance science, benefit patients and, last but not least, enable healthcare institutions – from single surgeries to huge hospitals – to operate as efficiently as possible.
Welcome to the world of Big Data
Many hospitals are just embarking on the big data journey and even compiling a full background picture of a patient can prove extremely difficult. This is largely because the necessary data is coming from such a large and constantly increasing variety of sources.
For example, a single hospital department often operates several different types of medical equipment, with each one producing data in a different format. They all have to be combined with data from other sources – such as blood work, past and present medication, family history and doctor and nurses notes – before they can tell an accurate story.
Although the pace of medical innovation has enabled the industry to overcome many issues, the Big Data explosion has created new challenges. Accordingly, many of the most forward-looking healthcare providers are now looking for ways to integrate all their data in a single place on a single platform, so they can unlock the value hiding in this constantly growing resource.
Thankfully there are solutions coming to market that can address these issues and integrate health applications, data sources and locations. These systems mean all data can be integrated, regardless of whether it is generated by proprietary applications, equipment, social media or new technologies. This enables doctors to easily and quickly gain access to a patient’s full history, and ultimately leads to better and more efficient care.
It’s a small step for technology, but it could mean a giant leap for the future of medicine.
Step 1: Integrating data
These solutions are having an impact in the region. One of Hong Kong’s leading private hospitals is using Hitachi Cloud Services Connection (HCSC) – Healthcare to consolidate all patient-relevant radiology images into a single platform, giving Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs) access to patient results in real-time and from any location regardless of origin or data format.
We are working together to integrate all Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) into a single repository and will even enable mobile access to patient records by VMOs and other healthcare professionals anytime, anywhere.
Taking this a step further the hospital then plans to use clinical analytics to create opportunities to establish wellness campaigns and implement evidence-based protocols that will directly impact the delivery of patient care.
This seemingly simple step forward in data integration is actually having a huge impact on medical care.
Step 2: Turning data into information
Of course, once you have the data you then need to use it. So many healthcare organisations are looking to take the next logical step. And by that I mean, further analyse patient data to accelerate diagnoses, immediately spot warning signs and help to prevent diseases.
The latest technologies in preventive care and personalised medicine are able to identify trends, maximise access and improve patient outcomes by leveraging data. Take the research collaboration agreement that Hitachi Data Systems recently signed with one of Malaysia’s most prominent universities – Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).
Aimed at improving clinical support for traumatic brain injuries, the study brings together our HCSC – Healthcare solution with UTP’s biomedical image analysis and analytics. It will initially be focused on traumatic brain injuries, and will integrate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, blood panels and intensive care unit (ICU) data.
The result will be instant clinical support that can benefit both patients and healthcare professionals. UTP has been involved in the field of neurosciences for some time and has a wealth of patient data. With HCSC – Healthcare, the university will be able to integrate that wealth of information and gain new insights into these kinds of complex injuries.
And once the healthcare industry really comes to grips with Big Data, who knows what benefits or medical innovations might eventually arise. Although, the cure for one of my least favourite maladies – the common cold – may still be a long time coming!
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