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Medtech Business Review | Tuesday, March 08, 2022
Innovations in medical devices will continue to transform the market in the next few years.
COVID-19 has grown 10-14 percent in the medical technologies market. Pre-pandemic, the market barely increased over 4 percent during 2017-2019. Medical device providers adopted disruptive innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, 3D printing solutions, and others in response to the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic. The way healthcare companies and public hospitals manage data and treat patients changed. Below is a list of the technology trends predicted to grow in the medical device industry.
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Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations doubled in 2022. The most vulnerable hospitals to cyberattacks are small and midsize hospitals, according to CyberMD's survey. Employees need cybersecurity expertise. Medical device manufacturers must continue to design user-friendly healthcare products that are well-protected against cybersecurity threats.
The interconnectivity of medical devices within a hospital is another factor associated with cybersecurity. The more widespread a medical network is, the higher the attack risk. Cyberattacks start from one device, but with more web-connected and mobile tools on the web, they spread rapidly and efficiently to other devices, significantly increasing their reach.
Medtech companies should strengthen authentication schemes to withstand cybersecurity risks. Some companies use mechanisms to verify authenticity when users input data or connect to external servers. Also, limiting the duration of sessions when an off-site device connects to an on-site server is helpful. Compliance with applicable protocols for data originating from external sources should also be checked regularly. Finally, it may be worth overhauling the workplace password policy.
3D Printed Devices
Medical device manufacturers could move forward despite obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and reduced employee numbers disrupted international supply chains. This is why additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has overgrown. The Business Research Company projects a 13 percent growth rate in the global market for 3D-printed medical devices by 2026.
The healthcare industry benefited greatly from additive manufacturing. Hospitals and medical facilities can manufacture components and equipment within the hospital to replace imported medical devices. Doctors and biomedical engineers create surgical instruments and prosthetics using 3D printers. The growth of these technologies is expected to continue in the future.
The 5G technology
Healthcare providers have significantly benefited from digitally stored data in recent years. Medical specialists such as physicians, surgeons, and radiologists still struggle to get the data-driven insights they need at critical decision times. They can now access that information with the help of 5G-enabled technologies.
Data transfers over 5G networks are streamlined in real-time, critical for fast and accurate diagnosis. Wi-Fi or 4G devices are two to five times slower than 5G devices.
Remote patient monitoring has been made possible by 5G networks in general. COVID-19, for example, was eradicated in China using such technologies. Hospitals had to diagnose infected people in rural areas from a great distance, in real-time. For remote analysis, however, MRI and CT medical imaging files are too large. As a result, engineers equipped remote hospitals with 5G-enabled CT scanners.
Most 5G applications target rural areas with limited Wi-Fi coverage and elderly populations who prefer to receive treatment at home. The use of 5G devices is also daily in suburban clinics that lack specialized expertise to connect to metropolitan clinics. A surgical microscope allows surgeons to transmit high-quality images for instant feedback to experts during surgery.
Medical Robotics
Medical device companies in developed countries began inventing robots to assist nurses with their tasks because of the global nursing shortage. Following the pandemic, more assistance is needed. The American Nurses Foundation's COVID-19 Two-Year Impact Survey found that 52 percent of U.S. nurses are considering quitting due to excessive workloads and burnout. Many countries experience the same problem.
In healthcare facilities, robots take over routine tasks like venipuncture, patient monitoring, lifting older people out of bed, disinfecting patient rooms, and protocoling.
COVID-19 reshaped the medical device market in an unprecedented way. A new way of delivering healthcare, managing data, and managing supplies has resulted from the digital disruption in the industry.
Many challenges exist in the medical device industry today, including a tight labor market, increased hacker attacks, logistical challenges, and the danger of misdiagnoses. There will be continued innovation in medical devices in the years to come.
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