As technology continues to impact the various sectors of the economy, the healthcare sector has equally had a share of innovativeness. The past ten years or so have seen medical technology advancing to greater heights than ever before. The reason healthcare provision today is done in a totally different way.

These innovations in healthcare have made diagnoses and treatments more effective and accurate. Access to services has also been decentralised to enhance efficiency.
In this article, we will review some of the greatest innovations in the medical field that have transformed healthcare in the last ten years.

Telemedicine

Over ten years ago, the only way to access medical care was by visiting a health facility or having your doctor visit you in person, regardless of whether the ailment was minor or not. However, as technology evolved in the industry, telemedicine was born, paving the way for remote healthcare services.

It involves using telecommunications to provide a platform where a doctor in a healthcare institution like Flint Healthcare Limited in Brighton can schedule and consult virtually with a patient in Falmer. It also includes remote patient monitoring, medication prescribing, and transmission of a patient’s medical information.

Hence, you can now consult your doctor from the comfort of your home, reducing the need for traveling and waiting in clinics. This has also enabled access to healthcare for people living in remote or rural areas.

Wearable Fitness Tech

There is no better way to know the level of fitness of your organs and the entire body than in real-time. This has been made possible thanks to the development of digital wearable health tech, including fitness trackers, smartwatches, and other gadgets that monitor your health metrics in real-time.

Hence, with this innovation, you can now track your heart rate, body pressure, sleep patterns, and other body parameters. This effort has encouraged individuals to be conscious about their health at all times, including changing their lifestyle. When the device notices a potential health issue, it will send an alarm for your attention before it becomes serious. Many of these gadgets have a link to your smartphone, where long-term data is analysed and stored for your review.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part and parcel of operations in every business, especially where computer algorithms are needed to analyze data to aid the decision-making process. In the medical field, AI was introduced to effectively diagnose diseases. It will further make projections and estimate patient outcomes, thus making treatments specific for that patient.

When deployed in imaging solutions, AI is able to clearly and accurately interpret medical images and data with almost zero margin of error. A good example of the use of AI in radiology is the accurate detection of tumors and other abnormalities in medical images. Hence, it has eliminated the tedious human efforts, making the diagnostic process easier and faster, leaving doctors with less workload to deal with personalised care.

3D Printing

Physical impairment has been a source of stress and depression among the affected patients as it meant the loss of adequate ability to continue with normal life, such as the loss of an arm or leg. The innovation of 3D printing machines has given hope to such affected persons. It involves creating three-dimensional objects as instructed by the digital file of a patient.

3D printing has enabled the speedy creation of implants, prosthetics, and even organs that fit each patient perfectly and work efficiently to enable patients to regain their lost abilities. Current 3D printing can manufacture even complex structures that were previously impossible to make using manual machines.

Robotic Surgery

Surgery is an important procedure in medicine as it saves lives that would otherwise have been lost, no matter what other form of treatment is given. In the old days, surgery was still being done but using traditional equipment and mainly for minor procedures. The success and recovery rate was also very low compared to modern surgeries like minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery.

Robotic surgery is the most modern procedure in this decade. It involves using robotic systems during operations. Surgeons control the robots by following their arm movements. Robotic surgery has proven to be more precise and accurate, especially in hard-to-reach areas of the body. The recovery period is also shorter and with less postoperative pain.

Conclusion

Over the last ten years, technological advancement and innovation have positively impacted the healthcare sector in every country. Some developed countries, like the UK, have even seen more advanced technology deployed in the medical field. From telemedicine and wearable health tech to AI, these innovations have greatly transformed healthcare. As these technologies continue to be more innovative, patients can only expect better health outcomes and quality of life for everyone.

Australia is a beautiful country filled with stunning wildlife and beautifully constructed cities. And it maintains this beauty due to the hard work of its loving citizens. But recently there has been a sharp decrease in the number of contractors available in Australia. Both for industrial services and more personalized services, such as home renovation. But why is this? Today we are going to break down the causes that have led to there being a call for more contractors in Australia.

The Global Pandemic

If you’re anything like me then you’re sick of hearing about the pandemic. It dominated our lives for too long. But the effects of the pandemic cannot be understated. And one industry that was hit hard was the contracting and industrial sector. People weren’t able to go to work in Australia during the lockdown. As a nation, it had some of the toughest restrictions anywhere in the world. But the furlough schemes in place didn’t help everyone survive. So a lot of people had to look for alternative ways to make money. This meant a lot of people previously working as contractors quit and changed career paths.

This mass exodus from the field created a staff supply issue which is still being felt now. The Iron Mining civil contractors Perth division spoke to us about this issue. According to them, they lost about 20% of their worksite workforce during the pandemic. This has hampered productivity greatly. Especially considering the company was already behind schedule due to the pandemic.

Increased Industrial Work

Because of the pandemic, every major construction project was put on hold. This included regular maintenance projects such as road fixtures. And, as the pandemic went on, more new projects started to pile up while the older ones were still unfinished. This means there is double the amount of contracting work available post-pandemic as there was pre-pandemic.

This is another key reason why the Australian government and industrial sectors are desperately seeking new contractors. So much so that a lot of companies are offering incredibly competitive salaries, joining bonuses, and incredible training schemes to anyone willing to work. To that end, it is a great time to become a contractor if you are considering a career change.

Will this Slump End?

Most experts predict this staff shortage won’t last forever. In fact, it will most likely be over in a couple of years. People are still acclimating to the post-pandemic world. Figuring things out again. So it will take a little while for people to feel comfortable returning to more manual labor. But with the incentives currently around joining this field, people will still start to flock to it.

Australians are industrious and proud people too. If there is something in their nation that needs doing, the people always eventually rise up and tackle the problem head-on. And this will be no different. In a few years’ time, I predict there will actually be too many contractors again. But this is quite a good problem to have given the alternative.