Medical technologies are lauded for their impact on transforming patient outcomes, but the benefits these innovations bring to healthcare professionals are often overlooked.
Though many individuals have been hesitant to use digital health solutions, Health Tech reports that the pandemic pushed providers to streamline the integration of technology into care delivery systems.
The past few years have also increased the demand for consumer-focused digital experiences, which benefits both patients and their providers.
Technology does not just increase the quality of service that healthcare professionals like medical technologists can offer, but also improve the work experience of providers themselves. To illustrate, here are a few benefits that healthcare providers experience from technology:
1. Lighter workload
Healthcare is a necessary service, which is why medical professionals are typically faced with long working hours and heavy workloads.
While information technology integration is primarily done to enhance patient outcomes, healthcare professionals can also benefit from assistance in managing their workloads.
The application of IT systems improves resource management. For example, electronic medical systems helped nurses in Iran minimize their errors and reduce their tasks.
Nurses can consequently speed up their tasks because they can access crucial medical information regarding their patients by leveraging medical technologies, which means less legwork and more time for rest.
2. Better work distribution
Technology also makes it easier to distribute the tasks of each professional on an institution-wide scale. With the help of Big Data, healthcare centers can track both their patients and workers to improve the flow of care within the institution.
As we wrote in a previous article, leveraging data analytics and machine learning systems, hospitals of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris in Paris, France, were able to forecast the admission rates of their patients.
They analyzed their admission rates over the past ten years using technology, and were able to assess the number of patients that they could expect during certain days and hours. This insight allowed them to manage the distribution of tasks based on predicted admission rates.
3. Varied career opportunities
Thanks to technology, healthcare workers can enjoy better work experiences inside and outside the hospital setting. Now that telehealth has become more in demand, healthcare professionals can enjoy greater flexibility and control in their careers.
This flexibility extends to healthcare workers’ career progression. Telehealth platform Wheel shows that nurse practitioners in South Carolina can strengthen their skills through various virtual care opportunities.
On top of that, advanced telehealth innovations improve healthcare workers’ careers by providing additional services like remote patient monitoring, virtual diagnosis, and treatment.
Through telehealth, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals in the US are able to pursue varied career paths and explore more options.
4. Better patient relations
Finally, physicians can establish better working relationships with their patients through various technologies. While telehealth allows them to conduct consultations in remote locations, patient portals can encourage greater trust between patients and providers.
Access to electronic health records are usually limited only to healthcare professionals. HealthTECH Epic Consultants expressed that having personal access to their medical records can deepen the communication between physicians/healthcare professionals and their patients.
Since patient portal platforms provide transparency, patients stated that this access allows them to develop a greater understanding of their conditions. As a result, providers are able to forge better connections with their own patients during consultations.
It is not easy to work in the medical field, which is why these innovations are crucial in improving the work experience of healthcare workers.
As technology continues to become more advanced, healthcare professionals can expect to reap the benefits of these new frontiers in medical tech.
