The John Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering has launched an online dashboard to track the spread of the deadly coronavirus. For the first time in a global outbreak, the use of artificial intelligence is becoming a useful tool to monitor and respond to the crisis.
Artificial intelligence is powered by data and in prior outbreaks, the shortage of data provided limited value. Now, the millions of posts about coronavirus on social media and news sites are allowing algorithms to generate near real-time data.
According to John Browstein, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital who operates a public health surveillance site called healthmap.org, “the field of AI has evolved dramatically.”
Machine learning is used to scrape all the information, classify it, tag it, and filter it. From there, the information gets pushed to colleagues at WHO (World Health Organization) that are looking at the information all day and making assessments.
Healthcare & Technology
The coronavirus and its data are an in-your-face example of how healthcare and technology continue to intertwine. Technology is changing healthcare.
Industry analysts have observed that increased accessibility of treatment is one of the most tangible ways technology has changed healthcare. Health IT allows for more exploration and research, which enables experts to make healthcare more driven and effective than it’s ever been.
Data Feeds Medical Breakthroughs for Coronavirus and Beyond
Information technology has made patient care safer and more reliable. Due to the accumulation of lab results, records of vital signs, and other critical patient data to a centralized database—the level of care and efficiency for patients has improved. This vast online resource of patient history is available to scientists who are finding new ways to study trends and make medical breakthroughs at a faster rate.
Software Supports Healthcare & Disease Control
The development of software programs has enabled medical professionals and researchers to track, retrieve, and use valuable data in the fight to control disease and improve overall patient care. The software also allows for better tracking procedures and billing methods to reduce paperwork levels. In turn, this allows practitioners to focus on quality care.
If you’d like to know more about how your healthcare practice can benefit from technology, give us a call at 208-901-3350 or email hello@limetreelabs.com.
