Blog | Events | S3 Connected Health

COVID-19 and the importance of digital health solutions

Written by Peter Myler | July 28, 2020

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic digital health solutions have been proving vital to keep our healthcare systems operational. They are facilitating the management of patients in their home environments, reducing the burdens and risks associated with travel to clinics, and streamlining care pathways in hospitals.

In his latest article for Med-Tech Innovation, Matt Norton looks at three of the technology solutions that have been quickly developed to help during the pandemic: accuRx, a video consultation tool; Docdot, an AI assisted mobile app that allows remote patient monitoring; and S3 Connected Health's clinical support tool that helps healthcare professionals in hospitals quickly triage and monitor COVID-19 patients.

While these solutions were created during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, they are emblematic of a much greater technological change in healthcare; one that is long overdue. 

Past experiences with problematic solutions, like some electronic health records, left many clinicians hesitant to embrace digital healthcare solutions, but the pandemic has shown just how quickly solutions can be adopted when needed.

The success of these digital health solutions is showing that staff, patients, and other stakeholders are open to new digital solutions. Technology like this is helping clinical teams in healthcare systems across the globe manage patients more efficiently and deliver improved outcomes, so why shouldn’t this continue in a post-pandemic future?

The technology and supporting infrastructure that has been created to help combat COVID-19, or remotely service at-risk groups outside of the hospital environment, can easily be modified and applied to other use cases; helping to meet a range of ongoing challenges with other treatment pathways.

The technology used by our clinical support tool, for example, can be modified to help clinicians manage patients with other respiratory conditions, such as influenza and COPD, while a modified version of Docdot is already set to help businesses assess and monitor the health of their employees and return them to work as quickly, and safely, as possible.

 

Read Matt’s full article here, on Med-Tech Innovation News.