Smart Sustainable Hospitals
August 2024 – A Smart Hospital uses new innovative technologies, devices, and applications to increase efficiency, enhance sustainability, reduce costs, and improve patient experience and health outcomes. Smart hospital technologies include Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Blockchain, Remote Monitoring, Robotics, Automation, and Extended Reality. Smart hospital devices include smart beds, smart rooms, medical imaging equipment, blood collection devices, barcode readers, inventory location trackers, and healthcare wearables such as fitness trackers and ECG monitors. Smart hospital applications include Electronic Health Records (EHR), Telemedicine, MHealth, Healthcare Analytics, and Business Intelligence. Compared to conventional hospitals, smart hospitals have many benefits, such as enhanced patient care, improved performance, cost savings, and pollution reduction. However, there are challenges facing smart hospital implementation, such as high electricity consumption, vulnerability to cyberattacks, privacy and compliance concerns, and a lack of digital skills. To address smart hospital challenges, hospital administrators need to adopt energy-efficient technologies, utilize renewable energy sources, enhance cybersecurity, and comply with regulatory standards, such as HIPAA, which requires external audits and licensing. Smart hospital sustainability strategies include energy-efficient technologies, renewable energy sources, green building, environmentally friendly hospital policies, e-waste management, and recycling programs. Policy-wise, in 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) to promote sustainable digital health transformation, support the global strategy on digital health 2020–2025, and accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 3, on ensuring healthy lives and the deployment of digital health.
In this slideshow, you will learn about the definition, technologies, devices, applications, benefits, challenges, solutions, sustainability strategies, UN policy, and global statistics of Smart Hospitals and Smart Healthcare.