Explain how the delivery of healthcare services can benefit

Explain how the delivery of healthcare services can benefit from automation, and provide two examples.

Solution

The advent of automation in delivering the healthcare services is phenomenal. The repetitive workflows such as filling prescriptions, laboratory tests, and completing radiology images could become more effective and efficient with the use of automation. For example, the laboratory tests orders and results could be tracked with the help of automated laboratory system. Similarly the radiology orders and results could also be tracked with the help of automated radiology system. A pharmacy system could also track medication orders including when dispensed.

Automation also resulted in the maturation of medical devices, which increased throughput and reduced variation. Examples of such equipment were use of robots in pharmacy, which would pick and provide medications to the patients and analyzers in the laboratory, which led to high speed processing and consistent processing of the specimens.