How the use of technology in hospital settings can improve doctor-patient relationship?

Deepak Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO, MedLern highlights that whether it is in terms of building infrastructure, designing delivery systems, making machines, devices and equipment, or educating, training and upskilling the workforce, technology in some form and shape has played its role eventually improving patient outcomes and quality of care

Technology has increasingly come to exercise an influence on most industries, sectors, functional areas and work settings today. And healthcare has been no exception. Whether it is in terms of building infrastructure, designing delivery systems, making machines, devices and equipment, or educating, training and upskilling the workforce, technology in some form and shape has played its role eventually improving patient outcomes and quality of care.

Although the healthcare service delivery value chain especially in a hospital setting involves a wide spectrum of players including administrative staff, receptionists, doctors, nurses, attendants, pharmacists, accountants and IT staff, the doctor-patient relationship lies at the centre of this whole care pathway.

How does the use of technology in hospital settings improve doctor-patient relationship?

Facilitates huge improvement in clinical care

First, technology by its very nature is a great enabler to cater to the specific needs of patients and help doctors in delivering precise and quality care to the patients. The diagnostic technologies available at the hospital helps in timely and accurate diagnosis with constant monitoring of the patient’s condition to prevent worsening of the patient’s condition or delay in treatment.

And this is relevant to the testing of signs and symptoms not just for communicable diseases but also for non-communicable conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiovascular diseases, Cancer, Stroke etc. As a logical corollary, technology even aids preventive health monitoring of patients, the importance of which has been increasingly established during the recent pandemic. Further to diagnosis, a wide range of technologies employed during the stage of treatment of a patient helps the doctor in a big way. The presence of critical care devices such as patient monitors, ventilators, defibrillators and oxygen concentrators etc are particularly critical to the overall patient outcome.

Improves the workflow and patient experiences

Second, technologies particularly IT and digital connectivity and storage technologies are a great asset to any hospital or healthcare facility. From identifying the right doctor for the right medical condition, scheduling an appointment, referring to another specialist or a department if required, guiding the patient to the diagnostics and testing centres, facilitating bill payments, maintaining patient records, deployment of technology in hospitals can improve the overall workflow and enhance the experience and satisfaction level of the patients.

Automated technologies ease early-stage communication hurdles

Third, in connection with the second, if the hospital devotes a part of its budget to automated and robotic systems, the communication between doctors and patients or their relatives improves making the whole process very simple and efficient.

The advent of speech-assisted automated attendant systems, self-register kiosks, AI-based chatbots, and even robots for mechanical tasks adopted for contactless screening and treatment during the peak COVID times is a huge shot in the arm for patients’ ease of access, convenience as well as a hospital’s reputation.

AI and big data technologies boost clinical and operational efficiencies

Fourth, by way of increased investment in AI and big data technologies, hospitals help doctors improve their clinical efficiencies and better streamline their own administrative and operational flows.

Because of the availability of patient records in the form of EHRs, EMRs and master patient index, a doctor has access to all the relevant information and data on a patient before he can make a clinical decision. This preempts the chances of any error of judgment thereby contributing to better health outcomes for the patient. At the same time, possession and analysis of data enable hospitals to improve their resource planning, allocation of personnel, inter-department coordination and emergency care preparedness, all of which can go a long way in eventually raising the quality of care from the standpoint of patients.

Remote and telehealth technologies are a win-win for everyone

Fifth, by placing remote telehealth technologies and systems, hospitals can significantly expand the scope and range of their services. Smartphone technologies, digital ophthalmoscopes, digital stethoscopes, digital otoscopes, wearable biosensors, mobile sensors and other monitoring devices can be leveraged to create a remote and telehealth ecosystem underpinned by a foundational internet infrastructure that can enable hospitals to offer services irrespective of their physical location.

Such technologies also help doctors offer follow-up consultations as well as monitor patients who would have been examined physically the first time. While this saves time and resources for doctors and patients, it also allows sufficient time and space for hospitals to cater to other patients. Remote systems also help patients with sensitive and so-called publicly-undesirable conditions such as mental health, reproductive disorders, rectal and colon diseases, among others to freely converse with specialists, at least for the initial consultation.

Doctors essentially represent the hospital before a patient. And hospitals ensuring the availability of required technologies not just improves the quality of care but strengthens the trust and confidence between the doctors and their patients leading to better patient care and organisational outcomes.