Digital transformation in healthcare

The first disruptive innovation in the virtual world was virtual-reality, which paved the way for augmented-reality and mixed-reality over time. Today, the overarching mainstream umbrella of everything virtual is extended-reality, and the growing conversation around Metaverse is indicative of the phenomenal changes waiting to happen, and sooner than what we expect. Like no one would have imagined the transition from landline to mobile phones, we are today digitizing ourselves faster than we can envision. The key question that comes to mind in this fast evolution is – when industry is at 4.0 stage of evolution, why should health still be at 2.0? What explains the lag?

Conventionally, the evolution of technology within the science that pervades healthcare is slower than that of technology within the industry, given the intrinsic assumption and even pragmatism to some extent, that every new wave is attached to a learning curve, which may potentially impact the real-time healthcare research and patient outcomes. This default assumption creates a gap between industry and healthcare versions of technology adoption.

However, in recent years, this gap is getting smaller, thanks to the user-friendly and powerfully disruptive technology which does not impact the healthcare outcomes in the process of adoption but enhances them in close to real time.

The adaptability times for a physician, clinician, or heath specialist to become well versed with the new technology is today reducing by the day. Immersive training experiences are helping healthcare professionals significantly improve their outcomes – whether better quality of life for the patient, better doctor-patient communication, or better orchestration among different entities of the healthcare spectrum in delivering quality care to patients. Extended-reality technology is not only a solution but the bridge itself to enable a crosstalk between stakeholders from different sectors and disciplines, thereby making the whole environment conducive for faster technology training and adoption.

Talking of evolutions, virtual-reality implied the immersion into a fully digital environment. Its adoption was a long-drawn-out process and even today, its usability is less than 5 percent. Augmented-reality was a friendlier version of virtual-reality; it was a reality enhanced by virtual elements in niche areas, where the real components and virtual components were superimposed. The next stage of evolution was marked by an acknowledgement that real and virtual cannot be isolated from each other, and interaction between the two is integral to outcomes. That is when extended-reality came into the picture, which provided an overarching umbrella for every kind of reality to play its part.

The virtual version is interactive, immersive, and instant – three defining aspects that make it appealing. This wholesome quality makes it an ecosystem on its own and healthcare entities – doctors, nurses, patients and caregivers – can collectively and significantly benefit from it while achieving critical outcomes of patient care and cure.

Sometime back, HCG partnered with Microsoft to introduce Hololens, wherein we launched landmark initiatives like the virtual tumor boards for focused conversations on improving research and clinical outcomes, teleportation avatars, and remote-assist surgeries.

The immersive aspect of the virtual world proved a game changer in robotic surgeries, apart from the precision, which it ushered in. I recall the time from my formative years of surgery when all I had at my disposal were two small eyes and two big hands. Today, I have a robot assisting me with one big powerful eye and two small nimble hands. Consequently, I am blessed with a racoon-like approach to surgery with a 360-degree immersive vision and exceptional stability to the tremor precision.

We are today at the formative stage of the AI evolution marked by basic intelligence. In the coming years, we will delve deep into areas like the Theory of Mind to make the most of the extended-reality dynamic. The bedrock of this evolution is clean, accurate, and reliable data. We need to ensure data integrity and interoperability not just by integrating artificial intelligence but also by overcoming natural stupidity.

In the coming years, this space is likely to see more disruptive innovation that will make bedside medicine more human and patient-friendly, where human healing is seamlessly integrated into technology by virtue of empathy-based designs.