The Future of Healthcare: The Technology Partnerships Aiming to Improve Patient Care
The Future of Healthcare: The Technology Partnerships Aiming to Improve Patient Care
There are three standout issues highlighted in this year’s annual SOTI Healthcare Report: security, lack of innovation and challenges of telehealth and AI. Data security concerns have revisited 2022 levels, rising from 16% last year to 24% this year, becoming the number one IT Issue according to the respondents.
85% say new or better tech is needed to improve patient care, with 63% stating they are using outdated technology now, which is an increase from 46% just two years ago.
Security continues to be the major theme impacting healthcare organisations. Compared to 2023, all forms of cyber incidents have seen an increase. The percentage of respondents experiencing data breaches in the past year has gone from 33% in 2023 to 45%. Accidental data leaks have also grown from 38% to 45%.
Legacy Tech is Responsible for 3.9 hours of Downtime Per Week Per Employee
The healthcare sector has long been known for its challenging legacy systems. These systems are the result of layering complex technology over decades and are often the assumed reason behind the healthcare sector’s lack of innovation. However, integration into legacy and fragile infrastructures requires absolute trust and accuracy with technology partners - along with a guarantee of no downtime, and immediate, real-time optimization.
This persistence of outdated technology makes it difficult for healthcare workers to do their jobs efficiently. The SOTI research shows that healthcare staff are losing an average of 3.9 hours per week, per employee, due to technical or system difficulties associated with poorly managed devices and IT infrastructure – up from 3.4 hours in 2023. Additionally, over one-quarter of the workforce now loses more than five hours per week, affecting the quality of patient care.
The Importance of Experienced Technology Partnerships in Healthcare
For over 25 years, SOTI has been dedicated to the healthcare vertical and develops an annual report researching the digital needs of the global healthcare sector and monitoring how it is improving its device and technology integration and the impacts this is having on patient care. This requires SOTI to work in collaboration with device manufacturers globally and their increasingly complex devices, so they are ready to use out of the box, having been tested and certified.
SOTI’s global partner Newland EMEA has been working in the healthcare sector for 15 years and has developed a range of sophisticated scanners that are SOTI certified and enable security of patient data and healthcare organizational data. This partnership strengthens patient care provided by tightening up the data scanned and collected on every device. Healthcare professionals who administer the drugs in the pharmacy will also be better protected since ideal dosage and usage will be accurately verified and recommended.
“One area of recent significant growth is intra-hospital communication using Mobile Computers and Micro Kiosks. Identifying the best devices suited to the needs of each end user in each hospital or clinic for their specific purpose is a big step in the healthcare journey. The key factor here is ensuring these devices are communicating with each other in real- time and that the data and information they share is accurate and time stamped. This offers compliance and protection for patients, but also enables physicians and professionals to focus on patient care outcome,” comments Sebastian Weides, Senior Product Manager (PDA & CIT) of Newland EMEA.
86% Agree the Need for Inter-Connected Medical Devices
Whilst the emergence of broader mobile technology and mobile computers is a huge enabler for this critical sector, it also comes with risk. The more mobile staff and mobile devices there are in the field, the broader the use of applications and mobile data on the move – so the higher the risk of data security and cyberattack. Devices can also get lost and stolen and the ability to remotely support these devices in real time and identify and resolve issues quickly with no downtime is key to optimizing the sector.
“SOTI’s mission is to deliver exceptional device experiences for end users in all sectors - so they do not have to think about data protection, compliance, and encryption issues. Instead, they can focus on using technology to support better clinical decision-making enhancing the speed and accuracy of patient care,” states Shash Anand, SVP Product Strategy at SOTI.
SOTI’s latest report can be downloaded here for more information.
