Harnessing Technology to Improve Health Care

January 14, 2014

Freeman Dyson, a theoretical physicist and mathematician, once said, "Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences."

At Jump, our job is to advance the Mission of OSF HealthCare and The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis to serve persons with the greatest care and love in a community that celebrates the gift of life. In our work here at Jump, it's a privilege to witness how the gift of technology is helping to protect the sacred gift of life.

This past October, our team partnered with Hewlett Packard in an attempt to demonstrate the impact of technology on health care. The result was a four-minute video, which Hewlett Packard is using to help educate consumers about the new products in its Continuum of Care line. It was an incredible experience to pull together the many ways technology improves health care in the four short days of filming.

Access to Information & Using Big Data

The most obvious of improvements is the way technology allows clinicians to have uninterrupted access to critical information when caring for patients. In today's world, you won't find a patient care setting that doesn't have multiple computers used for charting patient symptoms, submitting prescriptions, finding online health information, etc. Having data at our fingertips is commonplace in every aspect of our lives, and it's critical for health care providers and their patients.

Speaking of data, another way technology is advancing health care is through increased processing power, which allows us to merge big data and create predictability models for managing population health. We often refer to this as big data visualization.

In the accountable care environment, health care providers are responsible for not only individual patients but for the population of people within their geographic reach. We can only harness the power of big data if we are able to process it and extract relevant information. Big data visualization technology allows us to do just that.

The Gift of Technology: Treating Patients

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the technology we use to actually treat patients. At Jump, we employ simulated environments to validate and verify such technologies.

For example, home medical devices are becoming increasingly important as members of the baby boom generation reach an age requiring more medical attention. The Jump Regional Transport Center features a fully-functioning one-bedroom apartment where home health care products can be tested for ease of use, accuracy, and other important qualities.

The gift of technology impacts the future of patient care in new ways each day. At Jump, it is our honor to harness the power of this gift in a way that enhances God's greatest gift - the gift of life.

*Note: Products provided by HP.