Current Trends in Healthcare Data & Research

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Each year, the importance of data becomes more intricately tied to the progress of healthcare. Thanks to data analytics, healthcare professionals are finding their jobs becoming more streamlined and efficient while patients enjoy the benefits of improved outcomes. While there is no telling where the roof is when it comes to the application of big data and analytics in the healthcare sector, looking at current trends can highlight where it may be heading.

Increased Utilization Of Healthcare Informatics

Health informatics is currently seeing a surge of use in the world of healthcare due to the efficient way that it allows doctors and nurse practitioners (NPs) to gather and use information in their practice. Data-driven tools like healthcare informatics provide better patient outcomes by providing NPs the ability to communicate more effectively with patients and also allows for a more personalized approach to treatment. Improved patient portals and artificial intelligence (AI) software driven by data provide NPs the ability to operate with an improved level of expertise.

This technology makes it so that healthcare professionals can better coordinate care and have ready access to electronic health records. Again, this allows for a previously unheard of level of personalized care for patients, and as long as the data being used was gathered ethically in an unbiased manner and follows HIPAA guidelines, healthcare informatics will continue to build bridges between patients and medical professionals in a mutually beneficial manner.

Developing New Drugs And Methods Of Diagnosis

Data analytics are also furthering the ability of clinical research nurses to coordinate care for research participants, ensure that appropriate quality assurance procedures are conducted, and develop optimal budgets for clinical trials. Clinical research is vital to the healthcare industry as it helps to introduce new vaccines and medicines in a safe, controlled manner while avoiding as much risk as possible.

Additionally, AI and machine learning applications are pioneering the discovery of new drugs and helping doctors around the world make more accurate diagnoses. AI is assisting Oncologists to quickly profile cancerous tissue samples, which in turn significantly reduces treatment times leading to improved outcomes. By cutting down on the time it takes to determine a diagnosis with a high level of precision, AI driven by data is improving patient outcomes.

Tracking Regional Healthcare Data

Google is making the issue of public health a priority, utilizing the enormous amount of data generated by the company to track regional healthcare data. Google’s search engine receives more than 70,000 searches per second, many of which are medical in nature. By anonymizing that data and only taking relevant information like location, Google is able to effectively monitor and even predict outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases or other public health concerns in real-time.

It isn’t just private companies utilizing data analytics to predict disease in the name of public health, either. As far back as 2014, the Center for Disease Control was implementing big data through the use of BioMosaic, a tool that allowed them to effectively track the spread of an Ebola outbreak and identify at-risk populations, subsequently taking action to help prevent the disease from spreading further.

As the world continues to become more interconnected, the valuable data generated can be used by the healthcare industry to continue improving patient outcomes, develop new treatments, and even predict public health crises before they become an issue.

About the Author

Magnolia Potter is a muggle from the Pacific Northwest who writes from time to time. She covers a variety of topics and prefers not to settle on just one. When Magnolia’s not writing, you can find her in the outdoors or curled up with a good book and a mug of butterbeer. She is still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. You can chat with her on Twitter @MuggleMagnolia.

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  1. Sorry I’ve worked in hospitals for 14 years and data is driving the CARE out of healthcare. I can do a chest X-ray every three minutes as required to meet our goals but is that really the best way to treat injured people. It’s actually quite brutal the way data is being used in my experience. I’d like to help change this but I don’t know how.

  2. Great Post. Thanks for sharing.