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04 September 2020

Tech Perspective #16: Boosting Healthcare’s Safety with Tech

business

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on everybody. Millions of people fell sick. Lockdowns were introduced in many countries. Day by day, the world turned upside down, leaving everybody confused and scared.

The COVID-outbreak put the healthcare sector on full alert. Doctors and nurses around the world were forced to work themselves into a lather and fight on the front line.

Directly exposed to the risk of infection, medical staff desperately needed protection.

Situation on the Front Line

The COVID-19 outbreak has exposed harsh reality; hospitals and labs are widely underdeveloped in terms of ensuring safety for their employees.

Of course, the virus attacked unexpectedly and spread at an alarming rate; it was nearly impossible to predict the consequences of the outbreak and fully prepare the hospitals in such a short period.

However, what strikes the most is the scale of maladjustment and complete lack of preparation for crises.

One of the biggest threats was the lack of the simplest protective medical supplies. Doctors and nurses around the world plead on social media for masks and gloves. Many of them were forced to reuse the same disposable masks for many days, significantly increasing the risk of infections.

Necessity is the mother of invention: technology companies have been working around the clock to provide the medical staff fighting on the front line with the solutions ensuring their safety.

Technology Protecting Medical Staff

The COVID-19 pandemic has mobilised many companies to work flat-out to develop technologies that can support medical staff and protect them against the disease.

Thankfully, their work was fruitful, and in a relatively short period of time, companies came up with revolutionary products and services ensuring the safety of medical workers.

Medical software has undergone some major development. Take a look at two fascinating examples of such solutions.

Holo4Triage

Holo4Triage has been designed to protect doctors and nurses in the fight against diseases, providing them with maximum personal protection and smooth process guidance, especially useful in stressful situations.

Augmented Reality technology, by combining the capabilities of the Microsoft HoloLens goggles with Holo4Triage software, improves medical interviewing and reduces the risk of infection of the personnel fighting against COVID-19.

Moreover, Holo4Triage accelerates the registration process of a patient suspected of being a carrier of infectious diseases, reducing the time spent on formalities.

Doxy.me

Although telemedicine has been used for a while now, it really took over in the time of pandemic. It allows exchanging medical information and conducting medical reconnaissance using electronic communication. No need to leave home or private office; doctors can conduct a medical examination and write medical prescriptions without risking their health.

Telemedicine’s growing popularity influenced the quality of the offered solutions. Doxy.me is one of the most popular telehealth services. This simple, easily accessible, and free-to-use platform allows doctors to perform their duties. Ehealth solutions will also find more applications today, growing in popularity.

Let’s Protect Our Fighters

The unexpected outbreak of the pandemic took us all by surprise. Day by day, hospitals and medical facilities had to mobilise the medical staff to fight with the disease, often without providing them with sufficient protection.

With the safety of medical workers being their priority, technological companies developed many solutions decreasing the risk of infection and increasing protective measures.

I’m sure that they’ll continue their hard work and ensure the safety of the medical staff fighting with the disease.

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Author
Marcin Bartoszuk
Chief Operating Officer

With Microsoft technologies related since 2005. He graduated from the Computer Science Faculty of the Bialystok University of Technology where he was the leader of the .NET Group and the Microsoft Student Partner. Four times finalist of the national stage of the Imagine Cup competition, and later the mentor and the jury member of the contest. Co-founder of the Bialystok .NET Group. He lectured .NET development at the Bialystok University of Technology. Microsoft MVP in the Client Application Development category in 2008-2010, when he actively participated in the IT community. Constant new technology enthusiast and IT consultant.