A guest post from Ron Emerson, Polycom’s Global Director of Healthcare. Ron is a Registered Nurse and respected expert on telehealth. He is also a former member of the board of Directors for the American Telemedicine Association and Chair of the Industry Council.
Effective healthcare delivery in the face of today’s challenges will rely on innovation and collaboration technology being the enablers. In my previous blog post, I discussed these points and why telehealth and technology solutions will be critical to the future of healthcare, as the industry moves towards a more patient-centred model of care delivery. In this post, we present perspectives from two medical technology experts, one from New Zealand and the other from Australia: Dr. John Garrett, Paediatrican and Telehealth Clinical Leader, Canterbury and West Coast District Health Board and Dr. Simon Kos, Health Industry Market Development Manager at Microsoft Australia.
What technologies will drive healthcare innovation over the next decade or so?
John Garrett: “Many complex systems work in the background to support a consultation between a clinician and a patient, including the scheduling of the appointment, and the storing of the patient’s clinical information. They have been designed on the premise that the patient and clinician will be in the same physical location. Over the next ten years these systems will evolve to account for the fact that the clinician and the patient may be in different locations. At the same time, the telehealth tools being used will become more and more integrated with the clinical information and patient management systems.”
Simon Kos: “The current interest in health-related wearable sensors like smart watches and fitness bands will increase, creating a rich sea of data to empower more personalised management of wellness and health lifestyles. The consumer domain of wellness will intersect with the traditional health system, and we will see health coaching supporting patients to become more active in managing their own conditions. These shifts are already occurring and represent an opportunity for more effective health service delivery.”
