The relentless journey of digitalization has touched every sector of the economy, including healthcare. If we look at healthcare as a microcosm then there has been a lot of progress made in the past decades. The development of new medicines and diagnostic tools has revolutionized the sector for the better. This has led to a significant decline in the mortality and morbidity rates globally. Importantly, pestilences like smallpox or plague have become a thing of the past. However, with tremendous progress in various fields, new challenges too seem to have plagued the sector. These include the germination of drug resistant microbes and the gaining prominence of lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and stress, among others. Further, cancer continues to wreak havoc across demographics with a comprehensive cure remaining elusive.
The buzz around healthcare transformation through digitalization has brought in a slew of benefits. This includes managing the burgeoning healthcare sector with AI-enabled medical devices, telemedicine, or blockchain-driven electronic health records. Digitalization in hospitals and nursing homes has brought about a comprehensive improvement in their delivery of services. For example, a computer-based system creates electronic records of patients arriving at the hospital and then manages them seamlessly, right from the admission stage to the eventual discharge. Also, various types of apps tailor-made to monitor the health of individuals have become commonplace.
Medical practitioners have become dependent on the smooth functioning of medical devices to diagnose and treat patients. With so much at stake, glitches in such devices or tools can play havoc with the lives of patients. This is where healthcare app testing should become an integral part of the software development pipeline. Let us understand how healthcare transformation is going to evolve in the coming years.
The technology and knowledge intensive healthcare sector has seen end-users using apps to derive benefits like connecting to a doctor, buying medicines, or doing diagnostics tests, among others.
The healthcare industry is undergoing a tectonic shift in favor of technology. This will lead to better diagnosis and treatment of ailments. Moreover, healthcare apps are helping patients to know more about their diseases and the likely treatment protocols to be followed. Patients draw a lot of information from various apps or websites, which were earlier the exclusive preserve of the medical professionals. Healthcare application testing helps in identifying glitches in the applications and ensure they deliver the right outcomes.