Technology resources gain more and more strength in the health market, and this thesis was reinforced especially after the pandemic, something that intensified care and allowed the use of tools that until then were authorized in very specific cases.
With the advancement of technology and the efforts of software companies, the work of thousands of healthcare professionals becomes increasingly practical and their time during the day even more productive. With that, who also wins are the patients, who can have their medical care done more quickly and safely, in addition to being able to enjoy treatments more suited to their needs.
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As new technologies come to market, we can confirm the importance of new studies not only in the field of medicine but also in areas that can complement it. Thus, in this article, we separate some technologies that are being increasingly used and improved as working tools in clinics, offices, and hospitals.
Telehealth
Before the 2020 pandemic, only about 35% of US hospitals offered services via telehealth or telemedicine, however, today, that number is at 76%. In some countries like Brazil, telemedicine was something completely new, having been made a legislative ordinance just to allow the use of the tool and establish some limits, since until then telemedicine was prohibited in the country. Another pre-pandemic barrier was the fact that few health plans covered telemedicine consultations in the US and required that care, despite being remote, take place in an authorized place, like a doctor's office or hospital.
Telehealth ended up pleasing health professionals. Nurses, doctors, and administrators agree that they were able to deliver good care to patients during the pandemic thanks to the new tool, and a survey conducted by HealthcareIT News indicated that these professionals intend to continue providing this type of service even after the pandemic is over. In the survey, 94% of respondents said that telemedicine is likely to continue and expand further in the years ahead.
The benefits of telemedicine are many and apply not only to health professionals but also to patients themselves. Some of the benefits we can mention are: comfort, reduced waiting time to get specialist care, and better care for patients who have difficult conditions, whether they are patients with mobility limitations, the elderly, or patients in rural areas without access to the local hospital or within the prison system.
About the health professionals, we can say that telemedicine is valid for all specialties. There are no restrictions on its use for specialties, and different from what many think, even health professionals from areas such as dermatology, for example, where consultations are more visual, can use telemedicine. What is important to assess is how such a tool is used, and for that, it is recommended to use good medical software, such as Ninsaúde Apolo.
The importance that telemedicine has today is visible and we cannot fail to point out that not all software has this functionality. Ninsaúde Apolo, as mentioned before, in addition to having the telemedicine tool, ensures that patient data is secure while maintaining the confidentiality required by law. Currently, Apolo has 7 security certificates and 4 data protection and use certificates, including HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). In addition, Apolo follows SBIS's NSG2 (Security Level - 2), so all information is securely saved from end to end, in addition to complying with the LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law).
in addition to security concerning data protection, Ninsaúde Apolo is a cloud software, which allows you to access it anywhere, anytime, just by having an internet connection. To complete, in the Ninsaúde Apolo software, telemedicine is integrated into the electronic medical record, which allows the professional not only to type the patient's evolution while attending to him via telehealth but also being able to browse through the patient's history, thus providing a more accurate diagnosis.
Electronic prescription and digital signature
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, telehealth ended up becoming fundamental for the work of health professionals. With telemedicine, electronic prescriptions came to occupy a prominent place in medical care. If before the patient left the clinic with the prescription in hand, now, with consultations being done remotely, prescriptions need to be sent electronically, thus requiring a digital signature.
The digital signature is done through a digital certificate, which is nothing more than an electronic file that accompanies a digitally signed document, whose content is encrypted. Digital IDs provide a more complete security solution, ensuring the identity of everyone involved in a transaction. Therefore, for the pharmacy to be able to dispense the medicine (especially when it is a prescription drug), the electronic prescription must have a digital signature.
Although it seems simple, some points should be clarified about electronic prescriptions. The first point is electronic prescriptions are also called digital prescriptions, and this can lead to some confusion. A digital prescription is not the same as a digitized prescription. A digital prescription is a prescription that can be sent as a PDF file to the patient and/or the pharmacy, and for it to be valid, the doctor must contain an accredited digital certificate. It is through the digital certificate that the recipe will be signed virtually. The pharmacist also needs certification to inform the dispensing of drugs and to validate and invalidate the prescription.
On the other hand, digitized prescriptions, as the name implies, are digitized document, that is, printed document that has been scanned or photographed. Therefore, the signature made in this document is nothing more than a copy, therefore, does not have the same integrity as a document signed using a certificate.
Regarding digital certificates, there are several types, but to carry out signatures on recipes, a type A1 or A3 certificate is usually used. When purchasing a certificate, it is also important to pay attention to another detail whether it corresponds to an individual or a legal entity. In general, health professionals acquire certificates for individuals.
Amid so much technology, it is important to be as careful when using systems to perform the care of your patients, especially if you need to generate electronic prescriptions. Ninsaúde Apolo is a system with total security, and besides being able to use a digital certificate to sign your recipes, you can also use it to give legal validity to medical records.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have been used in medicine for a long time, and as much as the work of machines cannot replace human work, the importance of these tools for medicine is undeniable. There are, for example, devices capable of collecting, storing, and sending patient data to the doctor in real-time, all these thanks to AI technology. Telemedicine/telehealth itself, which we mention in this article, is a tool that uses AI to facilitate remote care.
Artificial Intelligence has been causing several changes in current health and certainly, in the future, these changes will be even greater. A survey conducted by Accenture revealed that only 29% of patients would not use AI tools because they prefer to meet their doctor in person. About 50% would be willing to trust an AI nurse or doctor for care. By 2025, 90% of US hospitals will use artificial intelligence to save lives and improve the quality of care.
A few years ago, scientists created a tool that allows anyone to visualize what structures inside a cell look like – even when you only have images from abroad. The Allen Integrated Cell, available for free online, creates 3D visualizations that can help researchers better understand diseases. In the field of surgery, AI has been bringing benefits for quite some time, thanks to robotic surgery. Founded in 1995, the company Intuitive was responsible for creating the da Vinci surgical system, which was launched in 1999 and has performed more than 6 million surgeries worldwide.
The da Vinci Surgical System allows the surgeon to perform minimally invasive surgery with an advanced set of instruments and a high-definition 3D view of the surgical area. Its use is frequent in urology, gynecology, and cardiology procedures, among others.
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