5G technology, designed to create a faster and more reliable internet, is just around the corner, becoming more visible as the decade unfolds. When 5G becomes more widely available, it’s set to noticeably improve the healthcare industry.
Thanks to this technology, the advent of virtual services, like online consultations with doctors, will soon be common.
Here's a deeper look at how 5G will impact society and improve the healthcare industry.
New Emphasis on Remote Healthcare
Since hospitals are commonly understaffed due to rising healthcare demands, leaders in the field are looking toward 5G as a game-changing phase of industry evolution. The much wider bandwidth and lower latency of 5G will improve the reliability of data transmission in real-time across wireless networks. As a result, this development will make telemedicine a more practical and attractive solution than it already is.
With the arrival of 5G, healthcare organizations will benefit from enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), which will increase the reliability of connections with mobile devices. Thanks to this improvement, doctors will be able to communicate more effectively with patients and provide faster diagnostic reports. It will also help healthcare professionals collect information more efficiently through patient feedback surveys to improve services and patient satisfaction.
5G Allows Better Health Services
The 5G revolution will upgrade medical facilities in various ways involving the speed, volume, and storage of data. It will ultimately open the door to new types of surgery and treatment that maximize comfort and convenience for the patient.
Here are some of the ways 5G will improve healthcare operations:
- Faster transmission of large files - Hospitals use equipment that generates a continuous flow of large files for CT scans and MRIs. This data is sent to specialists for their analysis. The files are so large that transmission can be slow on a 4G connection. But 5G will allow for not only faster data transmission, but a high volume of it as well.
- Growing number of telemedicine options - From the start to the middle of the 2020s, global telemedicine is expected to grow from $38.3 billion to over $130 billion. The United States will account for nearly half of this 17 percent growth rate. India and China will also contribute to the massive expansion of telemedicine. Not only will 5G cut costs, but it will also broaden access to care and number of choices for it for healthcare patients.
- Valuable AR, VR and spatial computing - Several modern technologies are converging at once to make 5G a valuable revolution for healthcare organizations. Augmented reality, virtual reality and spatial computing are already commonly used by hospitals, but 5G will trigger an expansion of use. Based on simulated models, these technologies will contribute to avoiding invasive treatments with medical alternatives.
- More powerful remote monitoring - With the help of 5G, real-time monitoring of IoT devices will be much more seamless and reliable. This will influence a wide growth of new remote monitoring devices. Part of the appeal of wearables is they are expected to cut hospital costs by at least 16 percent this decade.
- AI speeds up processes - Since no human will be able to analyze the entire collection of big data from IoT devices, artificial intelligence (AI) will play a crucial role in data analysis. Machine learning capabilities will be able to offer decisions for manual or automated adjustments based on the rapid analysis of a large amount of data.
Recent studies show that telemedicine is paying off and saving money for both hospitals and patients. Nearly 80 percent of patients said they were significantly satisfied by telemedicine in a recent study conducted by Sage Growth and Black Book Market Research. About a third of the respondents said the service was better than an in-person doctor visit.
Conclusion
The early 2020s will usher in 5G connectivity for the healthcare industry, which will be viewed by many as the new standard for affordable and convenient healthcare. This new robust internet solution will pave the way for amazing technological improvements in medical equipment and processes involving patient care.