The Future of Healthcare

The future of healthcare looks exciting and promising. It is filled with new technologies that will assist in health awareness and prevention, provide better and faster diagnostic tools, and deliver superior treatments for illnesses. Some of these innovations include; immunotherapy as a cancer treatment, gene therapy that will add a missing gene or replace a non-functioning one, artificial intelligence (AI) that can reduce the time of critical analysis and wearable digital devices that can enable patients to play a more active role in their own health (Bourla, 2018).

The patient though, must be the priority and be at the core of any health advancement. Over the years we have moved away from a practice that characterizes the patient as a recipient of care to one that identifies him as a collaborator in care. This trend is a positive one and should continue and be elaborated on. The patient has the right to determine what is important in his own care. His opinions, concerns, thoughts and beliefs must be included in any healthcare decisions. Not only does this individualized care (IC) produce patient satisfaction but it also increases compliance to interventions and brings about better health outcomes (Zamboni, 2018).

There are still many areas of healthcare that need improvement on. Throughout the world and in our own country there are detrimental social and structural determinants of heath that must be addressed, but we are heading in the right direction by including patients in their own care. The future in healthcare does look promising.

Elizabeth

Bourla, A. (2018, January 19). 5 key trends for the future of healthcare. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/this-is-what-the-future-of-healthcare-looks-like/

Zamboni, A. (2018, January 12). Individualized patient care: A simple concept that is difficult to get right. Studer Group. Retrieved from https://www.studergroup.com/resources/articles-and-industry-updates/insights/january-2018/individualized-patient-care-done-right