Imagine someone is ill and needs prompt medical help. In this situation, the patient has just one option and it is traveling to a doctor or hospital, doesn’t matter at what time and at what distance. Now, consider the same situation in the rural areas where doctors are located several miles away, traveling while ill can be very tough and time-consuming. But, today, with the ever-changing technology and with the advent of telehealth and remote monitoring systems, one could receive care at the comfort of their home. Doctors can easily make recommendations after a short video call and can submit prescription requests.
However, it has been noticed that the remote monitoring, along with sophisticated imaging equipment, can lead to additional pressure on the business networks in the healthcare industry. This often increases congestion and slows down network speeds, especially for healthcare providers that might be interacting with a number of patients a day. The situation is not only frustrating for the people using it, but the poor network quality can also delay patient care, which could have a negative impact on the outcomes in the long run. Also, as the implementation of IoT technologies continues to grow, the amount of data on networks is expected to increase with each passing day.
But, 5G technologies hold the potential to help resolve these challenges and improving patient experience with personalized, preventive care. Let us consider the case of MRIs and other image machines, which are of a large size and are often sent to the specialist for review. If the network is on low bandwidth, then the transmission can take a long time due to which patient needs to wait for long and providers can attend fewer patients in the same amount of time. Adding a high-speed 5G network would help transport huge data files of medical imagery which can improve the quality of care.
Talking about telemedicine, whose market has been expected to grow at an annual rate of 16.5% b 2023, it showcases the increasing demand for healthcare in rural areas. Implementing a 5G network in telemedicine would support real-time high-quality videos. 5G network would assist mobile networks to handle telemedicine appointments, which can easily increase the reach of the program. A number of healthcare systems use language translators while providing care to help staff overcome language barriers. With 5G, translators can make video conference with the patient and doctor making the process more efficient, reliable and accessible.
Down the line, it is a known fact that every new development is full of challenges, and like all technologies, the use of 5G in medical health has one-of-a-kind significant effect. By enabling all technologies through 5G networks, healthcare systems can enhance the quality of care and patient experience along with reducing the cost of care. To add more on reacting to patients’ conditions, 5G networks can offer providers the ability to offer more personalized and preventive care.