COVID-19 impact on Healthcare

COVID-19 has continued to have a profound effect on the healthcare industry. The
pandemic has impacted change in consumer behavior which affects the health care companies
more than the rest. Therefore, healthcare leaders need to meet the innovation imperative to cope
with the humanitarian challenge. Health care organization that chooses to invest in innovation
outperforms the rest in recovery after a crisis. Considering the speed of the recent changes, some
parts of the health care system are likely to operate differently to keep pace with the evolution.
COVID-19 will lead to increased use of technology such as digital health options and
innovations in robotics and drones.
The pandemic has facilitated the need for investing in digital health tools such as remote
monitoring and telehealth. The technology will help the health providers to take care of patients
remotely. Today, digital health has shifted from a nice have to a must-have in the health systems
(Zhou et al., 2020). The global response for COVI-19 prevention was the isolation of those
infected or a risk, social distancing, and handwashing. Although isolation is an effective strategy,
it results in limited access to social support leading to loneliness. Such breeds psychological
distress, which may have long-term effects on the patient, increasing the burden of managing the
disease. However, providing mental health support through telehealth enhances the patient’s
well-being (Zhou et al., 2020).
COVID-19 outbreak will also impact the innovations with robots and drones. One
measure of Covid-19 prevention is working from home and social distancing. Therefore, health
systems will seek to reduce the rate of individual interaction by investing in drones and robots.
Robots will do certain tasks such as cleaning to avoid exposing people to disinfection routines

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(Khan et al., 2021). Most of the technologies initially adopted in the consumer world will be
effective in Healthcare, impacting a permanent change.

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Reference

Khan, H., Kushwah, K. K., Singh, S., Urkude, H., Maurya, M. R., & Sadasivuni, K. K. (2021).
Smart technologies driven approaches to tackle COVID-19 pandemic: a review. 3
Biotech, 11(2), 1-22.
Zhou, X., Snoswell, C. L., Harding, L. E., Bambling, M., Edirippulige, S., Bai, X., & Smith, A.
C. (2020). The role of telehealth in reducing the mental health burden from COVID-19.
Telemedicine and e-Health, 26(4), 377-379.