Parable: AI and data integration will confer myriad capabilities on hospitals

June 20, 2045 - São Paulo, Brazil. After a series of clinical evaluations and diagnostic exams, finally the big day: Marcos was ready to undergo his kidney transplant. At the age of 106 and in unshakable health, Marcos had been waiting for this moment for some time. From home, he had scheduled the hospitalization through his digital assistant, while having breakfast. The hospital's system, integrated with Marcos’s individual digital medical record, extracted all the information he needed and left the reminders ready: preparations for hospitalization, notices for family members and scheduling a transport service by air vehicles, which would take him to the hospital in 5 minutes. What Marcos needed was just to sort out some clothes and his personal items.

Everything worked perfectly, as planned. When they arrived at the hospital, Marcos and Adriana, his wife, were received by Amelia, who from that moment on would accompany all their moments at the hospital; next to her, Olivia, a robot receptionist, oversaw admission procedures and directed Marcos and Adriana to their room. Upon arrival, Olivia transmitted the list of entertainment options: would they like personal photos on a wall? What were their favorite types of movies? Any dietary restrictions for the couple?

Marcos was enchanted: with acoustic protection, light walls, a cozy atmosphere and pleasant ambient sound, the hospital room did not at all resemble those of the past. Next to the bed, a digital assistant informed Marcos’s entire schedule during hospitalization and answered questions about his health or about the procedure to be performed. Marcos’s watch, connected to the hospital system, sent real-time information about his heart rate, oxygen saturation, electrocardiogram, and other vital data.

Within minutes of admission, Marcos and Adriana were visited by Drs. Charles and Mia, the physicians responsible for the procedure, accompanied by their assistant robots. Through virtual reality, the couple was introduced to all stages of the procedure, knowing in more detail the kidneys that would be implanted, produced by 3D printing, tailored to Marcos’s body. The dialogue between them and the attending physicians was recorded, securely and encrypted, and transcribed into Marcos’s individual electronic medical record, integrated into the hospital system and easily accessible by the physicians’ cell phones and digital assistants.

With the help of robot surgeons, the procedure was uneventful. Marcos went back to his room right away and a few hours later he was ready to talk to his family and his private doctor through modern telemedicine systems with holograms, facilitating communication with his children and grandchildren in Australia, Chile, and Thailand.

The next day, Marcos was ready to go back to his residence. After the final instructions, he and his wife entered the air vehicle and, in a few minutes, he was ready to rest in the comfort of home. His watch continued to transmit vital information to the hospital's system and to the attending physicians. Upon receiving a notification on his cell phone, Marcos was reminded of the moments of carrying out his laboratory tests: at the same time, he collected a drop of blood from his fingertip, analyzed in real time by a small device connected to his cell phone.

In the hospital scenario, the tendency is for us to have much more welcoming environments, without long queues, waits or bureaucratic procedures. Robots will help not only with patient reception, but also with surgical procedures, nursing support and disinfecting rooms and other hospital environments. Solutions based on artificial intelligence will be everywhere, helping patients with questions about health, well-being and quality of life. Command centers, like those in the aviation industry and media centers, will also be a reality, accompanying several patients simultaneously, checking vital signs and crossing data through intelligent analysis systems and risk and prognosis predictions. The hospital architecture will be completely designed to promote satisfaction and a good experience for patients, hospital employees and clinical staff, with spacious, pleasant, and welcoming environments. Finally, telemedicine will facilitate not only communication between doctors and patients, but also to keep close relatives who live far away and cannot be present in moments that are precious to everyone.

November 26, 2048. House decorated, food and drinks prepared and soundtrack in full swing: the day had arrived to celebrate another Marcos’s birthday. In the garden, in addition to many friends and family, holograms of those who could not attend interacted with the host and his guests. A small alert on Adriana's cell phone warned that her blood glucose was fine, as well as her blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygenation. Diabetic since childhood, she no longer remembered periods of uncontrolled glucose, thanks to continuous monitoring by wearable devices. But that's the topic for a next column; now, it's time to celebrate life, health, and the 110th birthday of Marcos.   

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Publicado na coluna de fevereiro de 2023 da The Yuan.