In a recent blog, VP of Healthcare Solutions at AT&T, Joe Drygas, talks about how 5G can help the healthcare industry evolve with new technologies. He compares what AT&T 5G does for healthcare with the theme of this year’s HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition – Reimagine Health.
There’s many ways that 5G can “reimagine health.” 5G allows for things like smart hospitals, at home test systems, and therapies in virtual reality. These things can seriously change the way patients are treated both in hospitals and at home.
“5G powers the use of smart technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), to help improve patient care, streamline workflows, and automate processes,” says Drygas. “These technologies interconnect to enable hospitals to gather, interpret and respond to the data they collect. In short, they create a building with eyes and ears – a smart hospital.”
Drygas references a real world example in the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine. This medical center is 80,000 square feet and is installed from top to bottom with smart technologies.
“The Institute knew when it set out to design the state-of-the-art smart facility it would need a state-of-the-art network to power it,” describes Drygas. “An on-site, private, AT&T 5G network with multi-access edge computing (MEC) was the answer. The fast data speeds, low latency and high capacity provided by the 5G network, combined with cutting-edge technologies, is helping the Institute reimagine the connectivity within healthcare and enhance the patient experience within the clinic.”
For instance:
- Wearable sensors enable the Institute to track how much interaction is taking place between patients and staff. This data in turn can help the Institute improve the care process and patient experience.
- The smart facility is capable of providing anticipatory, personalized, high-touch patient care, like knowing what type of music to play and lighting to use during a patient’s appointment.
- The dedicated bandwidth of the private 5G network makes it possible for the Institute to connect more devices wirelessly – from IoT equipment and sensors to handheld devices – without quality concerns. It also enables the transference of huge data files, such as 3D tumor imagery.
- The private, on-site 5G network means the Institute is able to capture and analyze data faster and more securely and make decisions on the spot.
Another example of AT&T 5G in the healthcare industry is a smart telemonitoring solution called “Artsight.” Using computer vision technology and smart cameras in patient rooms provides doctors a remote method of treatment and care. 5G’s low-latency and high data speeds make this possible. AT&T will be demonstrating the 5G-fueled Artisight smart telemonitoring solution in their booth at HIMSS (#2659). You can also check out their video demo here.
On the subject of the patient experience, Drygas says that 5G is already altering this in a dramatic way. “It’s elevating patient care by delivering better insights. But there’s more to come on the 5G front in healthcare, and we plan to lead the way. After all, enabling medical innovations is what our healthcare solutions team does best!”