Deepak Sharma ,Co Founder & CEO,MedLern emphasises that technology should empower the full human potential of doctors – free them up from competitive, tedious chores so that they can spend more time caring for patients and keep their knowledge and skills up to date with their professional field
Even as the US economy spent hundreds of billions of dollars in the last decade and a half to digitise healthcare data and workflows, the patient connection of US doctors has worsened steadily. Of the allotted 13 minutes in a doctor consultation, the doctors spend an increasing amount of time looking at the computer rather than making eye contact, reading non-verbal signs, reassuring, comforting, or explaining – in short, they spend less time “Caring”. Predictably, patient satisfaction in the US is among the worst in developed economies, even with 17 per cent of the GDP being spent on healthcare most of it on private sector hospitals and insurers. The lesson for us is clear – Machines might get continuously better at diagnosing, but they can never beat humans at caring. That’s why the word healthcare is about care. The healing touch and compassion of the doctor and nurse can dramatically improve patient outcomes, provided we let them.
Technology should empower the full human potential of theses and doctors – free them up from competitive, tedious chores so that they can spend more time caring for patients and keep their knowledge and skills up to date with their professional field.
This sets healthcare apart from other industries which often use technology for cost reduction or improving the “digital experience” of their end users.
Why this is very relevant for India because the central government has launched a very ambitious program through the National Digital Health Mission – aiming to create a health-stack much like the financial services stack created by UPI. This is expected to catalyse significant investment from the healthcare sector and spur innovation and efficiency in this space. So, what should be the priorities and pitfalls as we take this plunge? Here is a 4-dimensional framework that can be applied immediately.
Minimising operational tasks: Healthcare services need complex coordination across highly specialised domains. Each of these operations involves complex and time-sensitive decision-making and operations from respective experts –clinicians, surgeons, nurses, diagnostic experts, and intensivists. Significant gains can be achieved by identifying repetitive and tedious administrative tasks and providing digital workflows and tools to free up these experts to deliver a higher level of care. From documentation and resource planning to asset and inventory management – many hospitals are yet to deploy digital tools that can amplify employee efficiency.
Empowering healthcare workers with knowledge and skills for today and tomorrow: It is fundamentally impossible to drive any innovation in healthcare without adequately equipping the workforce to leverage the new tools and technologies. As the sheer data of knowledge in healthcare doubles every 73 days, hospital staff struggle to retain and apply the relevant knowledge that could improve patient outcomes. In the end, a hospital’s service is only as good as the skills of its staff – in clinical, operational as well as soft skills areas. Digitals tools now make it possible to personalise the learning for each staff and make it economically efficient to deliver the right knowledge and training that can have an immediate impact on business operations and also build a lasting foundation for an efficient organisation.
Minimising adverse events: Digital data has the natural advantage of being able to be analysed, verified, and shared rapidly. This can enable timely controls and elimination of errors – from medication errors, misidentification, and miscommunication to various other operational mistakes and delays that can sometimes cost lives or serious disabilities.
Patient centricity: Finally, any adoption of technology should be carefully evaluated to ensure it does not adversely affect outcomes, privacy, and experience. This is a sacrosanct requirement in healthcare, stemming from the dictum of “First, do no harm”. In the excitement of the potential innovation through digitisation of data and delivering better “experience”, actual treatment outcomes and patient privacy standards need to be safeguarded or we could risk a setback and loss of public confidence in digital initiatives in healthcare.
Indian healthcare leaders and policymakers face an unprecedented landscape of technology-led opportunities in the coming decade. While we lag in the adoption of foundational tools like EHR and EMR, we can leapfrog developed markets through the lower costs of cloud-based platforms and standards. The significant stumbling block will remain the abilities and skills of the healthcare workforce to put new technology tools to improve patient and business outcomes. Investing in their ongoing skills and knowledge will be a competitive advantage and force multiplier for the sector in the years to come.
very useful blog!