There is an increase in IT positions of at least 21% expected in the health care industry by the year 2020. That being said, aspects of the medical field have been evolving in accordance with this expected rise of technology related opportunities of employment. Currently, 322,170 laboratory professionals are employed in the U.S. alone. With this rise on other sectors of the health care industry, it’s likely that the shortage the states is currently experiencing will rise as well. Especially with the reliance on newer technologies improving the practice of professionals in all sectors of the health care industry.
Therapy Relayed Digitally
Living in the digital age has made health knowledge and care more readily available, such as receiving an online RN to BSN degree. There is a demand that comes with this new wave of receiving health care advice and therapy via the internet. Plenty of patients who are in need of assistance, but who are unable to leave their home, seek the help of professionals online through numerous outlets. These patients could be bound to their beds, due to issues with health or simply cannot afford to travel to a clinic due to where they live. Either way, there are some platforms becoming available that provide adequate health assistance to patients, either through person-to-person interaction with a health care profession or through software that is pre-programmed with an AI for the patients to consult with. On the same note, digital diagnostics have been made more readily available for patients who can take their diagnostics at home and have them sent to the lab for evaluation.
Wearable Technology
Sales for fitness trackers and other wearable devices, like smart watches, are on the rise. It’s only a matter of time before these types of wearable technologies will become a part of a patient’s care plan in helping to take the vitals of patients who require mobility to function in everyday life. We are already seeing signs of this evolution for wearable technology. Until recently, wearable watches were used only for tracking weight and fitness statistics. Now we’re seeing organizations like the Michael J. Fox Foundation teaming up with companies like Intel to utilize this technology in a new way for monitoring developments of diseases like Parkinson’s Disease.
It is advances like these that are helping to better facilitate the advancement of personalized medicine. The technical field is still in a state of growth. With graduates of the MLS program migrating into necessary positions, any imbalance will be better mitigated and the scale will be tipped back into balance in the medical field. Subsets of medical practice that are being explored, such as personalized medicine, are clearly advancing with the evolution of technology in the health sciences.
