Research title: An Assessment of How Technology Can Be Used to Transform the Traditional Healthcare Industry to A Smart Hospital Network in the United States

Introduction

Since the establishment of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1970, there has been an accelerated adoption and development of health information technology in the health care industry with carrying evidence (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Over the years there have been advancements in technology as the world has been technologically evolving. Modern technology has led to the emergence of various devices in the past decades; for instance, smartphone and smartwatches are examples of devices that have been developed through technology in the past decades. Daghan (2017) reveals that technology has affected the lives of people by enhancing efficiency in the healthcare industry, making communication more convenient between individuals, bringing advancements in medicine, presenting better opportunities for learning, and making it easier for individuals to access information. Technology has become the leading factor for change in various organization across the world.

The healthcare industry is one of the sectors that has been impacted by technology over the years. Technology has presented opportunities for improvement in the healthcare industry by reducing the cost of healthcare services, improving clinical outcomes, reducing human errors, improving the quality of services, promoting patient experience, enhancing patient-physician relationships, facilitating care coordination, enhancing decision making and patient data  collection (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). These opportunities have been achieved through the use of healthcare information technology to promote patient safety. According to Alotaibi & Federico (2017), patient safety is defined as the amelioration, prevention, avoidance of injuries or adverse outcomes stemming from various healthcare processes. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released an article titled "To err is human" in 1999 that aimed at testing and developing new technologies that aimed at reducing human or medical error in healthcare. Over the years, Technology has been adopted in the healthcare industry to promote patient safety and outcomes.

The aim of this research proposal is to assess various ways through which the healthcare industry can transition to a smart hospital network that will reduce the cost of healthcare, reduce medical errors, and promote patient safety and outcomes in the United States. The scope of the research proposal has been narrowed to reducing cost of care, improving patient-physician relationships, improving decision making, enhancing data collection, and promoting patient experience.

The above research topic is important because technology presents an opportunity for improving healthcare experience and the internet brings health to everyone. My interest in this research topic grew because the cost of healthcare in the United States has been known to be high despite the integration of technology to the healthcare system within the nation; therefore, change is needed to reduce the cost of healthcare and this can be achieved by fully transitioning from the traditional healthcare industry to the smart hospital network.

The research objectives for this proposal are as follows:

• • • To assess how technology has been adopted into the healthcare industry in the United States.
    • To assess the effectiveness of technology in the healthcare industry in the United States when it comes to reducing the cost of healthcare, reducing medical errors, improving patient-physician relationships, promoting patient experiences, and promoting patient outcomes and safety.
    • To identifying how to transition to a smart hospital network that will reduce the cost of healthcare.

2.0 Literature Review

In the United States, technology has brought a massive change to the healthcare industry in various ways. Technology has presented benefits to patients in the United States by increasing accessibility to treatment, improving the efficiency of care, reducing human error in healthcare, offering means to track data over time, and reducing the cost of care. One of the major concerns affecting the healthcare industry in the United States over the years has been the cost of healthcare services. Literature indicates that the use of a number of technological devices has been adopted in the healthcare industry today in the United States. These technological devices have been adopted for various reasons in the healthcare industry which include reducing the cost of healthcare, improving communication within the industry, enhancing data collection, and to provide easier access to healthcare services. A number of resources were examined that support these subsections of the research proposal.

The Cost of Healthcare

According to Peter G. Peterson Foundation (2020), the cost of healthcare services in the United States in the year 2018 was 11,000 dollars for each individual which total to 3.6 trillion dollars for the whole population during the year. Peter G. Peterson Foundation (2020) continues to reveal that the cost of healthcare in relation to the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) has increased to 18% in 2018 from 5% in 1960. Therefore, the literature proofs that despite the adoption of technology to the healthcare industry in the United States, the cost of healthcare is still high. Moreover, there have also been medical errors recorded in the healthcare industry in the United States that have also contributed to the high cost of healthcare services. According to Harmer, Lee, & Saadabadi (2020), over 20 billion dollars are spent each year on medical errors and over 100,000 deaths are recorded annually due to medical errors.

The issue of increased cost of healthcare services, medical errors, patient-physician relationships, patient experiences, and the need to improve patient safety has increased the interest in researching on transforming the traditional healthcare industry into a smart hospital network. Some of the scholarly research that has been done on technology and the healthcare industry have been undertaken by Kelly et al. (2020), Thimbleby (2013), Wu & Luo (2019), Tian et al. (2019), Loncar-Turukalo et al. (2019), amongst others. In this scholarly works, the authors have identified how technology has been adopted to the healthcare industry across the world.

These works of literature further identify how the cost of healthcare services continues to be high despite the technological innovations being adopted in the healthcare industry.

The differences in these literature sources are on the authors arguments on the causes for the rise of healthcare services. The literature research by Harmer, Lee, & Saadabadi (2020) highlights the occurrence of medical errors in the healthcare industry as the leading cause for the rise of the cost of healthcare services in the United States. On the other hand, Wu & Luo (2019) and Tian et al. (2019) highlight in their scientific research that access to healthcare services is the leading cause for the high cost of healthcare services. The methods used for research in these articles was the examination of other literatures that exist in this field. The authors compared information from various researches to come into conclusion on their research hypothesis for each scientific research literature. The gap in the above scientific researches is in the provision of healthcare services and technological devices that can eliminate the occurrence of medical errors in the healthcare industry.

Technological Devices in the Healthcare Industry

Various researches had been done in recent years on how information technology and technological devices have been incorporated into the healthcare industry and the benefits of the incorporation of these devices have been identified through evidence. Kelly et al. (2020), Loncar-Turukalo et al. (2019), Sarkies et al. (2015), are some of the researches that have been focused on the impact of technological devices on the healthcare industry. The similarity in these articles is that majority of these research literatures are focused on how these devices have promoted patient safety, reduced medical errors, reduced the cost of healthcare services, and enhanced access to healthcare services. Kelly et al. (2020) in their research have identified how the internet of things (IoT) streamlines and enhances healthcare delivery to the population in aspects of diagnosing diseases, monitoring and treatment of conditions, and predicting health issues. In this literature, the authors identify technological devices such as smart phones, digital medications, computing devices, portable devices, and other portable devices that can connect to the internet and used to measure health data. The authors in these scientific researches derived their information from other literature researches than have been conducted before and they compiled the data that was relevant to their study hypothesis. While this research assess how the IoT can be integrated to the healthcare industry, it fails to identify the specific technological devices that will impact the healthcare industry if their use is adopted.

2.3 Technology and Communication in Healthcare

The use of various technological devices has been linked to improving communication within the healthcare industry. In their research, Ahmed et al. (2020) proposes the use of a technological device to improve commination between healthcare providers themselves and between physicians and patients. The research proposes the use of a flexible hybrid optical-radio wireless network for the purpose of providing wireless connectivity for communication in hospitals. The research proposes using hospital resources and the availability of technology to enhance communication within hospitals. The above research also utilized literature from previous studies on the technological device and how it can be adopted into the healthcare  system. Moreover, a research conducted on scientific literature from 2010 to 2019 shows that technology has been on the forefront in enhancing communication in the healthcare industry (Loncar-Turukalo et al., 2019). This literature research focused on scientific articles published between 2010 and 2019 and looked to identify how emerging technologies were addressing challenges being faced in regard to communication, patient documentation, and the security and safety of using these technological devices. The literature revealed that the use of technology in communication in hospitals and the healthcare industry was key to reducing the occurrence of medical errors. The research utilized a scoping methodology in the identification and processing of literature that was available on the research topic. Both scientific literatures utilized a scoping methodology to assess previous materials on the topics that have been published. However, a gap exists in both literatures as they fail to identify how healthcare providers and patients will be able to utilize these devices to effectiveness in enhancing communication within the healthcare industry.

2.4 Technology and Data Collection in Healthcare

Technology has also had an impact on data collection in the healthcare industry. Previous research outlines various technological devices that have been utilized in data collection and the impact that the use of these devices has had on the healthcare industry over the years. Sarkies et al. (2015) conducted a research to determine the effectiveness of using technologically advanced methods for data collection in healthcare as compared to the use of old manual methods of data collection. In their research, the authors utilized electronic patient management programs to collect data and compared the results with the use of manual data collection methods from ward­ based sources. A research by Dash et al. (2019) also outlines how the internet of things (IoT) is also applied in big data in healthcare. In this literature, the authors identify how technology has been utilized in collection, management, and analysis; which leads to better decision making in healthcare.

Further research has also been carried out on smart technologies that have been adopted in healthcare. The scholarly work by Tian et al. (2019), Thimbely (2013), Alotaibi & Federico (2017), and Daghan (2017) are examples of researches that highlight how technology has been adopted into the healthcare industry and the impact of this technological innovation in the healthcare industry. Research shows that the use of technologies such as smartphones and other portable devices have played an essential role in improving access to healthcare services.

Scientific literature by Batista & Gaglani (2013) highlights the importance of smartphone in the provision of healthcare services. The authors highlight that a smartphone is a primary technological device that is found in majority of homesteads in the United States and its use by physicians to provide healthcare services has improved access to healthcare services.

The above scientific literatures highlight that these technologies that have been adopted into the healthcare industry are for the purpose of improving the quality of healthcare services, improving patient experiences, promoting the relationship between physicians and reducing medical errors. All these factors translate to a reduced cost of healthcare services. However, the cost of healthcare services in the North American countries, which includes the United States, remains to be high when compared to other countries. The above literature relates to the proposed study as this research looks to address patient-physician relationships, decision making in healthcare, patient experience, medica errors, and patient safety and outcomes through the use of technology with the aim of reducing the cost of healthcare services. The gaps in the above scientific literatures presents an opportunity for this proposed research.

2.5 The Gap in Scientific Literature

The above literature review provides a resourceful introduction to the topic of study and opens up the gap evident for this proposed research. This literature review aligns with the objectives of this study and the gaps within the scientific literatures have also been identified.

The literature shows that technology has been adopted into the healthcare industry but the devices being utilized are not effective enough to reduce the cost of healthcare within the United States. The gaps within the literature also indicate that the healthcare provides are not utilizing these technologies effectively to reduce the occurrence of medical errors. Another gap in the literature that presents an opportunity for this proposed research is the underutilization of smartphones and other portable smart devices to provide healthcare services to the larger population. The proposed research shall also look to identify other technological means that have not been covered in the above literature that can be used to improve access to healthcare services in remote areas.

3.0 Statement of the Problem

The high cost of healthcare services, medical errors, and communication have been identified to be major concerns that technology looks to address in the healthcare industry as seen in the scientific literatures reviewed above. The gaps in the literature resources above present an opportunity for research that aims at identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of the technological devices in place in the quest of reducing the cost of healthcare services, eliminating medical errors, and improving communication in the healthcare industry. The gap that needs to be addressed in this research is other technological devices that can be utilized to improve access to healthcare services and how smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices can be utilized effectively to increase access to healthcare services. Improving the access to healthcare services will reduce the cost of healthcare services. Another gap to be addressed is the effective utilization of technological devices in data collection and communication to address the challenge of medical errors and poor communication in the healthcare industry.

The anticipated benefits and outcomes form this proposed research is the decrease in the cost of healthcare services, improvement in communication between patients and healthcare providers, and elimination of medical errors in the healthcare industry. The researcher shall benefit from the proposed research by gaining knowledge on the application of technological devices in the healthcare industry and the impact they have on service delivery. Moreover, the research shall also be able to identify the gaps that exist in current literature that will enable them to identify ways in which they can be able to address these gaps.

Research Questions

• • • What technological devices have been adopted in the healthcare industry in the North Americans?
    • How have these technological innovations and devices effectively impacted the healthcare industry in the United States?
    • What advancements can be made to the technological innovations to reduce the cost of healthcare, reduce medical errors, improve patient-physician relationships, enhance patient experiences, and promote patient safety and outcomes?

References

• Ahmed, I., Karvonen, H., Kumpuniemi, T., & Katz, M. (2020). Wireless communications for the hospital of the future: requirements, challenges and solutions. International Journal of Wireless Information Networks, 27(1), 4-17.
• Alotaibi, Y. K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi medical journal, 38(12), 1173.
• Batista, M. A., & Gaglani, S. M. (2013). The future of smartphones in health care. AMA Journal of Ethics, 15(11), 947-950.
• Daghan, G. (2017). Views of Students about Technology, Effects of Technology on Daily Living and Their Professional Preferences. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology- TOJET, 16(4), 187-194.
• Dash, S., Shakyawar, S. K., Sharma, M., & Kaushik, S. (2019). Big data in healthcare: management, analysis and future prospects.
• Forni, A., Chu, H. T., & Fanikos, J. (2010). Technology utilization to prevent medication errors. Current Drug Safety, 5(1), 13-18.
• Harmer, B., Lee, S., & Saadabadi, A. (2020). Suicidal Ideation. StatPearls [Internet].
• Health Management (2020, February 20). The Impact of Digital Technology on Healthcare. Health Management, Retrieved, May 21, 2021, from, https ://healthmanagement. org/cl cardio/news/the-impact -of-digital-technology-on­ healthcare
• Iqbal, S. M., Mahgoub, I., Du, E., Leavitt, M. A., & Asghar, W. Advances in healthcare wearable devices.