By Sudipto Das, AVP Engineering at Quest Global
Integrated Healthcare is a much desired and rapidly evolving field that combines various technologies – like Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Telehealth, Telesurgery, Lab-on-a-chip, Smart Pills, Health Information Exchange (HIE), etc. – to provide more personalized, cost-effective, and holistic patient care. Semiconductors, used in microchips, sensors, and other electronic components, play a critical role in the development and advancement of each of these technologies, enabling sensing, processing, and transferring humungous amount of health data in real time, something, which, till recently, would have necessitated a supercomputer. All of these can make even the most complicated telesurgery that needs high-fidelity haptics to restore the hitherto lacking “sense of touch” a reality.
The role of semiconductors in healthcare has been expanding rapidly over the past decade, particularly in wearables and other extremely portable and miniaturized medical devices, bringing an entire laboratory home, thus reducing hospital costs significantly. The latest smartwatches can track blood oxygen and glucose levels, ECG-based heart rate, etc., alongside overall activity and medications. A next generation smart wearable measures clinical grade, bio-impedance-based body composition like muscle and fat mass, hydration level, fluid overload, skin hydration, mental stress, and a few other parameters with direct bearing on the heart and kidney functioning. Hitherto all these were possible with only large, immobile, and costly machines available in high-end gyms and hospitals.
Semiconductors shaping the integrated healthcare space
Electronics is unlocking a new world of holistic healthcare and diagnostic capabilities by harnessing the power of semiconductors. Gradually, they are becoming an integral part of medical technology, including diagnostic tests, ventilators, ultrasound scanners, patient monitoring systems, and more.
Below mentioned are some of the most promising implementations:
• Connected healthcare ecosystem – The connected healthcare ecosystem is predictive, preventative, personalized, and participatory. It is a combination of technologies, including 5G, cloud-based “Internet of Things” (IoT), robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), all built on a foundation of semiconductors.
• Improved medical research – As per researchers, the main goal of integrating medical and semiconductor technology is to enable faster and more practical methods of disease prevention. Semiconductors are also used to create DNA sequencing machines that are faster, more accurate, and less expensive than previous technologies. This has made it possible to sequence the human genome more quickly and inexpensively, leading to new discoveries in medical research.
• Improving quality healthcare delivery – The use of semiconductors in healthcare has opened new possibilities for improving patient care and outcomes. One area where semiconductors are expected to make a significant impact in the future is in the development of implantable medical devices. With advances in semiconductor technology, it may become possible to create highly sophisticated devices that can be implanted in the body to monitor and treat various medical conditions. For example, researchers are currently exploring the use of implantable devices to treat chronic pain and epilepsy.
Addressing healthcare challenges
Given the constant technological change in the industry, semiconductors have the potential to address several challenges in healthcare, including:
• Remote patient monitoring: Semiconductors are used to develop sensors and wearables that enable remote patient monitoring, which is particularly important for patients with chronic conditions. Remote monitoring can help healthcare providers track a patient’s health status and identify potential issues before they become serious.
• Medical imaging: Semiconductors go into microchips that power medical imaging equipment, such as X-ray machines, CT scanners, and MRI machines. These chips can enable faster image processing and higher-resolution images, which can improve the accuracy of diagnoses.
• Electronic Health Records (EHRs): Semiconductors are the foundations of the cloud-based infrastructure that power EHRs, which can improve the accuracy and efficiency of healthcare data management.
Conclusion
Overall, the semiconductor industry is critical in advancing the healthcare industry. Additionally, the continued expansion of telehealth alongside the development of 5G networks will guide the rollout of integrated healthcare, reshaping the overall healthcare ecosystem totally.
Medical devices will be poised to become increasingly like supercomputers, which will expand the realm of possibilities beyond what has been previously envisioned. As these innovations are underway, businesses can use this as an opportunity to continue expanding their lead over their competitors and be in the best position to tap into integrated healthcare’s potential.