Take a minute to understand your mobile phone

A cell phone is not only a hub of telecommunications convergence, but also a remarkable number of devices all rolled into one gadget: Camera, video recorder, GPS, calculator, radio, watch, alarm clock, music player, voice recorder, photo album and library of books – like a pluripotent stem cell. Armed with apps, it carries out diverse functions from flashlight to magnifying glass.

Then connect it to a wireless network, and this tiny device is a web surfer, word processor, video player, translator, dictionary, encyclopedia and gateway to the world’s knowledge base. And, by the way, it even texts, emails, it’s a games console, a TV remote controller, it scans documents and provides phone service.

By virtue of the intensive infiltration of digital devices into our daily lives, we have radically altered how we communicate with one another and with our entire social network at once.

The Web lets us sample nearly all books in print without even making a purchase and efficiently download the whole book in a flash. Our lives have been radically transformed through digital innovation.

But now picture this device loaded for medicine, capable of displaying all of one’s vital signs in real time, conducting laboratory analyses, or even acquiring ultrasound images of one’s heart, abdomen or unborn baby.

DIGITISE HUMANS

We can even digitise humans. We can remotely and continuously monitor each heartbeat, moment-to-moment blood pressure readings, the rate and depth of breathing, body temperature, oxygen concentration in the blood, glucose, brain waves, activity, mood — all the things that make us tick.

We can image any part of the body and do a three-dimensional reconstruction, eventually leading to the capability of printing an organ. Or, we can use a miniature, handheld, high-resolution imaging device that rapidly captures critical information anywhere, such as the scene of a motor vehicle accident or a person’s home in response to a call of distress.

It would not be possible were it not for the mellowing of the digital world technologies — the ubiquity of smartphones, bandwidth, pervasive connectivity and social networking. Beyond this, the perfect digital storm includes immense, seemingly unlimited, computing power via cloud server farms, remarkable biosensors, imaging capabilities and formidable health information systems.

For example, the healthcare professionals who work with medical billing and coding know the strides technology has made. In the last few decades, medical billing and coding has switched from being a paper-based system to a computerized format. When you go to many hospitals, especially the private ones, the whole process, from the time you enter the facility to the time you leave is all computerized.

BENEFITING IMMENSELY

Health care workers are benefiting immensely from the drive toward electronic medical records. With one touch of a button, doctors can access all the care a patient has ever received and can figure out possible illnesses and other useful information for decision making.

Another benefit of this new technology is that it enables statistical documentation of the patients and their interaction with health care. It can also help to make the healthcare system more transparent and can be integrated with health insurance data. In addition, tracking procedures make it easier to identify a patient’s past treatments.

In an increasingly digitally connected world, new technology allows the field of healthcare to make drastic changes that streamline the system.

But despite all of these new developments, it still depends on the doctor to ensure quality healthcare. When it comes to treatment, all of the best tools in the world can only help if the doctor is skilled and equipped well enough to perform a certain procedure.

Sam Wambugu is a monitoring and evaluation specialist; [email protected]