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The path to healthcare
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5G – technology

As advancing technology is taking the world by storm, 5G is already marking its presence in the social and healthcare sector. With the public’s changing needs and rising awareness of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, attitudes towards healthcare have shifted significantly. The expectations of patients and their role in a recovery process are also increasing. Therefore, an ongoing search for digital health innovations that will ease both patients’ and healthcare professionals’ everyday routine.

Making the digital leap

We are witnessing an explosive growth in digital solutions that will change medicine as we know it by speeding up the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals. New tools will bring meaningful advancements in healthcare, which will result in delivering better and more cost-efficient services for patients, even at a distance, and empowering everyone to take more responsibility for their own health.

Many digital health innovations, which are widely used in Finland and beyond, have been developed in Oulu, the city widely recognised as an innovative leader in the 5G – technology development. The HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Conference in Helsinki is the perfect opportunity to spread the word about them. In addition, Oulu is hosting a side event on 9-10 June to demonstrate, for example, how wireless-connected cameras and biosensors offer new digital tools to teach healthcare operations to students remotely and allow remote consultancy. The event will also provide a variety of insights into the opportunities that will emerge when healthcare and high technology meet.

According to Olli Liinamaa, 5G Test Network Lead at Nokia and the University of Oulu, 5G has the potential of changing the world of communication radically.  It will not only connect humans but also things around us. This, in turn, will open up a range of services developed also for the healthcare sector. 5G – technology will introduce not only more capacity for data, but also increased reliability, minimized network delay and optimized architecture for connecting machines.

The integration of electronic communication tools requires faster connection speeds. This is where the 5G steps in to upgrade social and healthcare services, add deeper meaning to personalized healthcare and deliver more reliable connectivity across the world.

Why 5G really matters for social and health care

First of all, 5G will increase the speed rate of wireless networks and ensure faster data transmission. This will open doors to real-time medical consultation via the internet, sharing patients’ information in a more efficient way and saving time, as patients will not have to wait a long time for diagnosis or treatments. Technology-enabled solutions will perfectly answer the challenges that healthcare systems across Europe are facing and bring new possibilities for delivering more advanced, personalised and connected health services for the benefit of citizens.

‘With a high-performing network, healthcare personnel could have access to relevant data anywhere at any screen anywhere at a hospital campus.  Wirelessly connected medical instruments allow flexible equipping of multi-purpose rooms.   New types of end-user devices, such as augmented reality glasses allow delivering relevant data to be viewed in real-time.   Indoor positioning could be a basis for tracking devices and creating navigation services for patients and visitors.  Sensors and cameras ensure good medical care also remotely and allow patients to stay at home instead of spending extra days at hospital,’ comments Liinamaa.

We all hope for easily accessible and patient-oriented future social and health care services.  Will we live better? It is impossible to tell but there is a strong possibility that we will live longer at home, independently, and stay in good health supported by high technology. In this way, the health sector can become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 5G – driven revolution.

Visit our 6B30 stand at the Finland Pavilion of HIMSS Europe & Health 2.0 Conference 2019 to talk about the 5G impact on social and healthcare.

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This blog has been written by Joanna Seppänen, Communications Coordinator, Health & Life Science at BusinessOulu

www.ouluhealth.fi