TECHNOLOGY WILL SAVE OUR MINDS AND BODIES

By: David Chraca

INTRODUCTION

Technology is constantly improving and in turn helping the medical field drastically, in ways such as:•Data crunching•Communication•Networking•Helping patients stay healthy

DATA CRUNCHINGResearchers and IBM have been developing a super computer, called Watson. This computer is going to help doctors and physicians diagnose patients better, and recommend treatments and medicine that will help the patient the best. Doctors are people to and make mistakes, whether it’s a bad diagnosis or wrong prescription, sometimes they make mistakes. This super computer would essentially eliminate the possibility of this happening.

Actual computer built by IBM. Used in Jeopardy and won. Now being manufactured to help healthcare professionals

HOW WATSON CAN ADDRESS HEALTH CARE CHALLENGES

• By using language capabilities, hypothesis generation, and evidence-based learning to support medical professionals as they make decisions.

• The physician will describe symptoms and other related factors, Watson will then process information and identify.

• Watson then checks the patient data to find relevant facts about family history, medications and other conditions.

• It combines all to form hypotheses and test them.

• Watson will then provide a list of potential diagnoses along with a score next to each, than identifies probability and confidence in answer.

COMMUNICATION WITH PATIENTS A new application called “OMNIFLUENT HEALTH” has been created by the SAIC. It is a translation program for doctors and other medical professionals. Essentially, a doctor is able to download this software on a smartphone, speak into in and it translates this message into any other language.

Obviously there are already apps that can do similar things, but this is focused directly on the medical field and recognizes and defines medical terms most apps wouldn’t be able to. Also, in the USA alone there is approximately 47 million residents that don’t speak English fluently so this would definitely be useful in places like USA and Canada, where there are is a melting pot of different cultures and languages.

HOW OMNIFLUENT HELPS• The language barrier is a big deal when trying to diagnosis

someone properly or giving them medical instructions, everything must be clear and precise.

• There are many people whose primary language is not English, this has challenged hospitals to find a cost-effective solution for communicating with patients.

• The average cost of telephone interpretation is $132 an hour and $32 for salaried staff interpreters. The average time spent on a patient encounter was 25 minutes. Multiply that by however many patients in a day, and that could add up to a very large cost.

• Omnifluent Health lowers these costs drastically, to the point medical professionals are spending merely cents per minute with translation accuracy similar to that of trained human medical interpreters.

NETWORKING New social networking sites are helping doctors work better, by being in touch with medical professionals all over the world, Asking questions and discussing information, which can help their patients better. This is the foundation of the new networking site/application called “DOXIMITY”.

A New-York start up, called SHERPAA, is now offering patients consultations over the phone and online, saving them a trip to the ER or doctors office.

Very cost-effective and saves people a lot of time.

HELPING PATIENTS STAY HEALTHY

• There are so many gadgets and apps available for smart phones now, that focus on health.

• New smart watches track calories burnt, heart rate, eating habits etc…

• New apps such as “LARK”, a silent alarm that tracks a persons sleeping patterns and movement, and offers suggestions on how to get a better sleep.

• Apps that adjust meal plans, workout routines, sleep, and much more are helping patients stay healthy using new technology.

BIGGEST INNOVATIONS OF 2014•We witnessed some of the best innovative

health care technologies ever, in 2014.

•The pace at which technology is impacting our healthcare and everyday lives is incredible.

•In the following slides I will go over some of the best innovations of 2014.

Wearable Technology

Digestible Sensors

Google Glass.• Glasses that help doctors

interact better with patients.

• Can pull up data or prescription history, can wear during surgery and look up related information.

• Digestible sensors will continue to provide medical professionals more insight on how the human body works.

• The sensor is swallowed and than transmits information to doctors that can better diagnose and treat a patients conditions.

Nanobots in Blood

• Still being developed, but the future is coming where these tiny robots will functioning like a white blood cell and destroy bacteria and other pathogens.

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGIES

Robotic “Flight Simulator” Surgery

• Surgical procedures have always required lots of real life practise, until recently. The Roswell Park Institute and a group of engineers from the University of Buffalo have made the RoSS. No sane person would fly in a plane with someone learning on the job, and the same should be said with doctors and surgeons. This simulator allows real life views and allow surgeons to practise without fear of losing their patient. Truly an amazing invention.

CONCLUSION •I believe the information I have covered in

this presentation shows how technology is advancing and allowing us to keep in touch and stay healthier using new gadgets and applications.

•Also the future is looking bright, the technologies I covered from 2014 have, or are starting to, be developed and put to practise.

REFERENCES • Lee, E. (2013, January 24). 5 Ways Technology Is Transforming

Health Care. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/bmoharrisbank/2013/01/24/5-ways-technology-is-transforming-health-care/

• Govette, J. (2015, February 10). 10 Biggest Innovations in Health Care Technology in 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from https://getreferralmd.com/2015/02/the-10-biggest-innovations-in-health-care-technology-in-2015/

• Honigman, B. (2013, November 17). 7 Biggest Innovations in Health Care Technology in 2014 [INFOGRAPHIC]. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from https://getreferralmd.com/2013/11/health-care-technology-innovations-2013-infographic/

• IBM Watson: Ushering in a new era of computing. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/ca/en/watson/index.shtml

• SAIC's Omnifluent Health Reduces Hospital Interpretation Costs To Cents Per Minute. (2012, October 12). Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://healthcare-executive-insight.advanceweb.com/News/Daily-News-Watch/SAICs-Omnifluent-Health-Reduces-Hospital-Interpretation-Costs-To-Cents-Per-Minute.aspx