Digital health is having impacts now, but it has the potential to have a far greater impact in the future. It’s becoming more common, and new uses are discovered every day. The possibilities are endless, but there are several factors that give us an indication of what’s on the horizon.
Devices and beyond
Smartphones are one of the devices most associated with digital health. They brought about a profound upheaval in the digital health industry, as they have been used to make the patients the custodians of their own health. Smartphones remain important to the future of digital health, but they’re only part of the technology involved in it.
Digital health relies on smartphones and other devices to monitor patients and transmit relevant data. Those devices are part of the future of digital health, but there’s more to it. Successful interventions will integrate various modalities and inputs, hardware, software, therapeutics, telemedicine, diagnostics, genomics, and electronic medical records.
Focusing on long-term results
It’s important to note that there’s more to the technology than smartphones. Although they can be helpful, they’re not enough by themselves. We need technologies that are incorporated into our everyday choice architectures, with the ability to fill in the psychological gaps that previous digital health apps have overlooked.
Digital health can involve patients with chronic conditions using devices to monitor some aspects of their health. As this becomes part of their daily routine, they may not even realize the long-term impact of it: new program evaluation results show that home health monitoring programs also make a very big impact on health well beyond the duration of the program.
Providing care and comfort
In some cases, digital health can go beyond the home. For example, one digital health platform in hospitals or other care facilities uses patient-triggered input to de-escalate anxiety and aggression in delirium and dementia without the use of psychotropic drugs and restraints. This can be very beneficial for the patient and provide a lot of comfort when it’s needed most.
For dementia patients and their families, there is a lot of worry about independent living and safety. Some types of digital health can help with that. For example, one app can be used as a monitoring tool to enable independent living. It can also be used as an emergency button to alert caregivers in case of an emergency.
Digital health is here to stay
At 365 Healthcare Staffing Services, we specialize in the recruitment and placement of healthcare professionals in per diem, travel, and permanent assignments in healthcare facilities across the country. Digital health is here to stay, and you may have the opportunity to work with it in your next assignment. We’d love to help you find that assignment, so give us a call at 310.436.3650!
