Emerging Trends in Oncology Treatment Facilitating Enhanced Patient Care
Having completed his MS in General Surgery from King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and training at TATA Memorial Centre. Dr. Gopinath is a highly skilled oncology surgeon with over four decades of experience in treating breast, head, neck, and cervical cancers. Owing to his contribution to cancer treatment in the country, he has also been conferred with Padma Shri award by the President of India in 2010 and Prof B. C. Roy Award from the Medical Council of India and Karnataka Rajyotsava award.
Today, the 3E concept holds a lot of importance in the healthcare ecosystem, i.e., Evidence-based medicine, Economy-based medicine, and the Experience of the patient. Under evidence-based medicine, any new drug, treatment or medical equipment must undergo several rounds of stringent scrutiny before being launched into the market. Second is economy-based medicine, where the doctors look at the patients' economic status before prescribing any medicine or treatment to them. This is very important especially in the case of drugs that are very highly priced and cannot be afforded by all. Thirdly, it is important for the hospital to make sure that they have all the necessary facilities in place for the patient to have a hassle-free experience. This includes facilitating video consultations with the treating doctor, teleconsultations, real-time monitoring of the patient’s health condition, post-treatment care and many others. Also, recent advancements in molecular diagnosis have facilitated the sub-classification of numerous diseases and enabled the healthcare community to have a better understanding of those diseases. Further, genetic studies are also now made easy by using a simple liquid test called NGES Assessment and planning the whole treatment plan for the patients.
Strategic Approach to Technology Adoption in Oncology
There's a saying among the medical community – 'Biology is the king, technology development is the queen and molecular development is the prince & princess'. Today, advancements in technology have enhanced healthcare delivery, facilitated excellent virtual communication between patients & caregivers, and broadened the reach of quality patient care to even the remotest places. Although modern-day technologies are helping healthcare professionals immensely, they do not provide the final solution to the patients' problems. Human touch plays a pivotal role in the treatment of any disease, wherein both the patient and the doctor must understand the psyche of each other while discussing the treatment plan for the patient. Only after discussing the treatment plan with the patient and his/her caretakers or family members will technology come into the picture. However, it is important to understand that cancer is not a disease that can be handled through a single modality of treatment; rather it needs a multidisciplinary treatment where specialists from multiple areas discuss with each other and formulate the treatment plan for the patients.
Technology Facilitating Enhanced Care for Cancer Patients
Similar to other industries, tech advancements are happening at a very fast rate in the healthcare sector in recent times. However, integrating the latest technologies into healthcare practices is a very complex affair and demands a clear understanding of the natural history of every disease process. For instance, 20-30 years back, lung cancer patients used to approach doctors for treatment only at the later stages of their disease since there was no way for them or the doctors to identify the disease symptoms early and diagnose it before it was too late. But today, the healthcare industry today has a very clear understanding of various aspects pertaining to the disease. Also, advanced equipment such as CT scans and MRIs are now enabling the doctors to detect cancer in the early stage itself and even identify if the disease is spreading to the brain even by a minute percent. Additionally, by using the recently introduced PET-CT technique, doctors are also now able to precisely determine which stage of cancer the patient is in, which has been a key enabler in deciding the future course of action for the patients.
Role of EHR in Managing Emergency Medical Situations
EHRs enable doctors the ability to look at patient data from anywhere through any device and diagnose them immediately without having to physically look at the patient. Also, digital patient records also enable healthcare organizations and the government to quickly compare patient data with data from foreign countries, identify patterns/similarities and accordingly formulate treatment strategies. This has proven to be highly useful in various governments coordinating with each other while managing unforeseen health crises such as the recent COVID pandemic. Additionally, in emergency situations such as accidents, digital health records enable doctors to quickly go through the patients’ past health information and provide treatment without wasting time for someone to bring a physical copy of the health records. This will no doubt play the deciding factor of patient's life.
.jpg "Dr. K S Gopinath, Surgical Oncologist, HCG Cancer Hospital Bengaluru")
Today, the 3E concept holds a lot of importance in the healthcare ecosystem, i.e., Evidence-based medicine, Economy-based medicine, and the Experience of the patient. Under evidence-based medicine, any new drug, treatment or medical equipment must undergo several rounds of stringent scrutiny before being launched into the market. Second is economy-based medicine, where the doctors look at the patients' economic status before prescribing any medicine or treatment to them. This is very important especially in the case of drugs that are very highly priced and cannot be afforded by all. Thirdly, it is important for the hospital to make sure that they have all the necessary facilities in place for the patient to have a hassle-free experience. This includes facilitating video consultations with the treating doctor, teleconsultations, real-time monitoring of the patient’s health condition, post-treatment care and many others. Also, recent advancements in molecular diagnosis have facilitated the sub-classification of numerous diseases and enabled the healthcare community to have a better understanding of those diseases. Further, genetic studies are also now made easy by using a simple liquid test called NGES Assessment and planning the whole treatment plan for the patients.
Strategic Approach to Technology Adoption in Oncology
There's a saying among the medical community – 'Biology is the king, technology development is the queen and molecular development is the prince & princess'. Today, advancements in technology have enhanced healthcare delivery, facilitated excellent virtual communication between patients & caregivers, and broadened the reach of quality patient care to even the remotest places. Although modern-day technologies are helping healthcare professionals immensely, they do not provide the final solution to the patients' problems. Human touch plays a pivotal role in the treatment of any disease, wherein both the patient and the doctor must understand the psyche of each other while discussing the treatment plan for the patient. Only after discussing the treatment plan with the patient and his/her caretakers or family members will technology come into the picture. However, it is important to understand that cancer is not a disease that can be handled through a single modality of treatment; rather it needs a multidisciplinary treatment where specialists from multiple areas discuss with each other and formulate the treatment plan for the patients.
Human touch plays a pivotal role in the treatment of any disease, wherein both patient and the doctor must understand the psyche of each other while discussing the treatment plan for the patient
Technology Facilitating Enhanced Care for Cancer Patients
Similar to other industries, tech advancements are happening at a very fast rate in the healthcare sector in recent times. However, integrating the latest technologies into healthcare practices is a very complex affair and demands a clear understanding of the natural history of every disease process. For instance, 20-30 years back, lung cancer patients used to approach doctors for treatment only at the later stages of their disease since there was no way for them or the doctors to identify the disease symptoms early and diagnose it before it was too late. But today, the healthcare industry today has a very clear understanding of various aspects pertaining to the disease. Also, advanced equipment such as CT scans and MRIs are now enabling the doctors to detect cancer in the early stage itself and even identify if the disease is spreading to the brain even by a minute percent. Additionally, by using the recently introduced PET-CT technique, doctors are also now able to precisely determine which stage of cancer the patient is in, which has been a key enabler in deciding the future course of action for the patients.
Role of EHR in Managing Emergency Medical Situations
EHRs enable doctors the ability to look at patient data from anywhere through any device and diagnose them immediately without having to physically look at the patient. Also, digital patient records also enable healthcare organizations and the government to quickly compare patient data with data from foreign countries, identify patterns/similarities and accordingly formulate treatment strategies. This has proven to be highly useful in various governments coordinating with each other while managing unforeseen health crises such as the recent COVID pandemic. Additionally, in emergency situations such as accidents, digital health records enable doctors to quickly go through the patients’ past health information and provide treatment without wasting time for someone to bring a physical copy of the health records. This will no doubt play the deciding factor of patient's life.
