Dell is a leading provider of technological solutions to the health sector. Technology makes an important difference to patients and their families. Furthermore, it supports the work of healthcare professionals.
Did you know that worldwide 6000 hospitals use technological solutions from Dell? On top of that, 7 out of 10 pharmaceutical companies rely upon our technology. Dell supports the healthcare sector in several areas, for instance by streamlining patient care and protecting patient data, but you’ll discover much more if you read on.
The healthcare sector is facing several challenges. Firstly, healthcare expenditures are expected to rise. Secondly, as the birth-rate goes down and life expectancy increases, we are faced with an ageing population for which a decreasing number of working people have to foot the medical bill. And thirdly, we are seeing an increase in chronic and lifestyle diseases.
Two apparently conflicting needs arise. On one hand, prevention is required to save money, which shifts the focus to the “preventive care”. On the other hand, medical care is getting more and more personalised: this should increase treatment effectiveness but raises doubts about costs. How to solve this paradox?
Every patient is a special case with special needs. With the Internet of Things (IoT) rapidly entering the medical field with the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) fast on its heels, data collection has already reached an unprecedented level. It is estimated that healthcare data collected increases by 48% each year. It is not just the health sector collecting data about patients, the receivers of health care themselves collect and volunteer data, and even healthy people collect data through personal, wearable health trackers such as smart phones and smart watches. Thus, patterns emerge, making it possible to draw conclusions about lifestyle before illness, through to illness – and again provide new insights into possible preventive actions that people can make supported by their GPs, in turn empowering the individual throughout their entire medical history.
This makes preventive care a part of “personalised medical care” – data collection and efficient processing are the core. In turn, personalised care for those already suffering from illness or injury benefits the entire sector as a whole, as the exchange of information and take-aways from each case represents an opportunity to learn and continuously build on the experiences gained.
In an ideal world, this is “all” the health sector would have to worry about. But they have to think about cost, improving care, preventive care, collecting data about each patient, data protection and not least security – how is all this compatible?
Basically, this is where Dell technology comes in. When data is to be effectively processed and stored, with an eye both to improved patient care, preventive care, security and ethics, a converged infrastructure offering speed, capacity and security is a must. And we have a broad portfolio that demonstrates how we cater to the health sector and offer them agile and comprehensive computing solutions and peace of mind.
An example comes from Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok. The hospital treats 1.1 million patients each year, and has 1300 doctors and 1000 registered nurses. Conducting 10k tests per day, the hospital needed the capability to process huge amounts of data. Having relied on a tactical, short-term component based procurement system, their move to a converged healthcare platform provided them with simplified administration, coordinated and personalised care, and helped increase the focus on wellness and prevention.
The converged infrastructure they chose to implement was based on Dell VxBlock, Dell Isilon, Dell XtremIO storage and Dell Unity. The hospital’s data is now centralised and instantly accessible to clinicians, doctors and patients alike, giving health professionals new confidence and agility in treating patients.
You can read more about Dell solutions for healthcare here.
These are all examples of the power of technology. It is for healthcare. It is for the good of mankind.
