COVER STORY
10 JULY 2019 [ ehealth.eletsonline.com ] The Largest Portal on Healthcare Innovations in Asia and the Middle East
sector telemedicine network and
apps that facilitate patient care or
follow-up care. It becomes easier for
a digitized hospital to build on its
database to design efficient health
care delivery services.
Digitalisation holds a huge
significance to facilitate things
but it’s only a single component
of whole mechanism of smart
delivery of care.
“Smart hospital is more about
journey. Technology, ease, and
convenience are building blocks
of smart hospitals. How you apply
the technology and smartness
to care is what makes a huge
difference. Technology is easy
to develop but bigger challenge
is its adoption by doctors and
patients,” says Chaitanya Shravanth,
Chief Digital Officer, Cloudnine
Group of Hospitals.EHR, MHEALTH NEEDED FOR
PERSONALISED HEALTHCARE
EXPERIENCE
The first step and the foundation
of a smart hospital is the
electronic health record (EHR).
If all patient data is available in a
digital format, it can be accessed
by all departments and hospital
stakeholders in no time at all. Inan emergency, the physician is
able to check for any pre-existing
conditions or allergies the patient
might have. Needless to say,
this speeds up all subsequent
treatment steps.
Despite its many advantages,
EHRs are not being used
prominently in many of public
and private hospitals in India and
the Government needs to take
cognisance of it.
Then mhealth is another area
which proves crucial. A physician
can use their smartphone or tablet
to access a patients Electronic
Health records (EHRs), review
medical histories, send follow-
up emails, and even complete
prescriptions. There are many
mobile apps which provide more
high-quality services, and at the
same time are cheaper for patients
to access. mhealth apps are very
useful in chronic care management,
medication management, fitness
and weight-loss, and managing
personal health records.
Both EHR, mHealth are
basic ingredients of a smart
hospital which contribute to give
personalised healthcare experience
to patients.
“Technologies can be harvestedto ensure basic patient care delivery
with better outcomes. The basic
essence of any smart hospital is
that it has to be patient-centric. The
most important thing we need to
look at is the outcome. When you
are talking about smart hospitals,
you need to run it in a smarter way
which could increase profitability,”
says Dr Govindaiah Yatheesh, Unit
Head, Apollo Speciality Hospital,
Karnataka.MODERN TECHNOLOGIES
INCLUDING AI PLAY A KEY ROLE
Cutting-edge technology is proving
to be a biggest game changer.
Artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics,
and 3D printing, have been playing
a transformative role in enhancing
different deliverables in healthcare
sector. In cardiology, 3D mapping
to facilitate customised cardiac
mapping of a patient’s heart is
gaining popularity. This technology
lets physicians gain new insights
into the heart of the individual
patient. Artificial intelligence
and machine learning used for
radiographic assessments show
great potential.
Robotics are proving to be boon
in reducing waiting time, and other
operational chaos, thereby increases