How are the latest trends increasing demand for Data Scientists?
February 9th, 2023
X
Latest news
Big Data helping healthcare
Big data is really changing and revolutionising many industries, and healthcare is no different. Technology is constantly evolving and with that comes new ways for healthcare professionals and companies to access patient data they have not been able to see before. It is something that has fascinated me for a while, and I wanted to see how big data is really being used to improve health, both for the patient and the doctor.
Patient Care
Over the past few years wearable technology and healthcare apps have been on the rise. With people able to monitor their own health and progress they can capture their own data, but if the doctors could also see this data it could massively benefit them when diagnosing.
Not only will the sharing of this data help patients during a visit, it can also help doctors to predict trends and act quicker when diagnosing. By all the data going into the same place, doctors can compare a patient’s history and see what treatment works depending on data that matches.
One company in America, the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, is already starting to test this. Their aim is to take the health data from multiple sources, including wearables and past medical records, to be able to get a complete picture of individual patients, and from that be able to offer tailored healthcare.
Preventing Illness
While the sharing of data can personally help patients, big data can also be used to make predictions. By comparing patient data doctors are able to find correlations and similarities in data that may lead to serious illness. By spotting these trends early on it is easier for them to diagnose and potentially prevent the illnesses.
One company BCBS is already trying to make this happen when looking at heart diseases. They are using the big data they have already collected to find patterns and correlations between the patient’s living habits and the disease, things that may be overlooked and missed by doctors during an examination. If they are successful in this it would allow doctors and healthcare professionals to discover more warning signs and prevent the disease as early as possible.
It’s clear to see how big data is having an impact across the healthcare industry, with developments constantly being made in this space big data and healthcare is only going to grow. I’m excited to see what is going to happen, and how this will benefit me as a patient in the future.
How do you think big data could benefit healthcare in the future?
KDR Recruitment is the home of the UKs best Information Management and Analytics jobs. For the latest big data news and blogs follow KDR on Twitter and LinkedIn.
