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The global educational technology industry is evolving at an astounding rate. Only in 2019, the EdTech market size was $76.4 billion. By 2027, its annual growth rate will climb up to 18.1%.
New educational tools and technologies have been applied across various industries, and healthcare is no exception.
In this article, we will cover the benefits of technological advancements in healthcare education.
1. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
Virtual reality and augmented reality enhance healthcare education on multiple levels.
These technologies bring experiences to life for healthcare students. They go far beyond textual learning materials and video presentations. By being fully immersed and engaged in what they learn, students can acquire and retrieve knowledge faster.
The best thing about AR and VR is that they enable experiential learning. A tiny VR gadget can transform the classroom into a fully-equipped science lab or operating theater. They provide effective training exercises. For example, Embodied Labs use VR to simulate what it is like to live with various health conditions, allowing healthcare professionals to walk in patients’ shoes and understand their struggles.
2. Wearable Technologies
From smartwatches to smartphones and tablets, the use of wearables has grown with the rise of artificial intelligence technologies.
Advanced technologies, such as sweat meters, step trackers, exercise modules, oximeters, and heart rate sensors, have a central role in the healthcare industry. With their help, healthcare institutions can allow patient health in real-time. That way, they can prescribe more effective therapies. Surveys show that the wearable medical device market will reach $27 million by 2023.
Mobile technologies have become fundamental for healthcare providers. They are significant for healthcare education, too.
In that case, wearable technologies are given to patients to help medical students improve communication with them. These tools can track patients’ responses to interactions with medical students. Most importantly, instructors can analyze students’ speech patterns, word choices, emotions, and empathy to help them improve relationships with patients.
Some schools use wearable tools in the classroom and clinical training settings. With technologies such as Google Glass, they can provide a classroom full of students with real-time insights into surgical operations.
3. Robotics
In healthcare, robotics is used in multiple areas, including rehabilitation, sterilization and cleaning, surgery, supporting patients with chronic diseases, etc. These technologies improve patient care, minimize waste, and reduce the overall costs.
They play a fundamental role in education, as well. By using robots, healthcare students will learn about more practical and efficient patient care without putting people’s health at risk.
Robots are also crucial for the training process. Many medical schools use pediatric robots to simulate real-life scenarios that are common encountered by nursing professionals. That way, healthcare students can prepare for real-life emergencies and learn how to behave in such situations.
4. Online Learning
The need for online learning has grown since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. With the rise of cloud learning platforms, students are not limited to local schools anymore. They can choose relevant courses from all around the globe.
Apart from training accessibility, another benefit of virtual learning for healthcare professionals lies in its flexibility. A common problem medical workers face is the lack of time. Their busy and inflexible schedules prevent them from enrolling in all-day on-premise courses. This program for RNs offers them flexibility with their online curriculum.
Today, advanced medical certification providers offer online courses that adapt to healthcare students’ hectic schedules. Knowing they can consume learning materials anywhere and anytime, they will be motivated to finalize the training program and get certified.
5. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is not a science fiction concept anymore. It has become a part of our everyday lives. We use AI-driven tools to learn new languages, manage finances, and make informed company decisions. As such, it is a central part of the health care sector.
Various AI types, including machine learning, natural language processing, and task automation, are changing the healthcare ecosystem forever. AI can be implemented in almost any branch of medicine, from immunology to pathology.
It plays a vital role in early-phase disease detection. According to research studies, AI-driven technologies can diagnose breast cancer risk 30 times faster than humans with 99% accuracy. These tools can scan tens of thousands of documents fast and yet, help you avoid the risk of human error.
For instance, by combing through various pathology images of different cancer types, AI can identify details humans may ignore. For patients, that means better therapies and the reduced need for biopsies.
In education, AI technologies enable students to understand and memorize data faster, as well as identify repeatable patterns. That is why many medical schools tend to replace traditional learning with AI-enabled tech.
Over to You
EdTech has revolutionized healthcare education. From flexible online training programs to immersive VR experiences, they help medical students understand learning materials and better prepare for their careers.