New technologies applied to healthcare architecture (Part I)
During the EuHPN Workshop 2024, Francisco Ortega, Director of ENERO Arquitectura, shared his vision of the impact of technological advances and AI on healthcare architecture. In his speech, he clarified some of the major unknowns surrounding this developing field. Why is it important to understand how the implementation of these new technologies will transform healthcare architecture? To respond to this question, we will summarise the major points from Francisco Ortega’s presentation.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
We are facing the consolidation of a new paradigm in what we call the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Since Klaus M. Schwab coined the term at the Davos Forum in 2020, we can say that there is a big difference compared to previous revolutions. Whereas past revolutions were based on speed, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on acceleration. We are currently witnessing a convergence of digital, biological and physical worlds.
The evolution and use of AI and machine learning in the healthcare sector has seen an exponential increase since 2022. Capable of integrating language, images and data, AI is becoming increasingly accessible, now from any personal computer, using ChatGPT, for example. It reached 100 million users in 60 days, the fastest take-up in history. Until 2023, the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) had authorized more than 800 applications integrating AI for use in the healthcare sector. According to studies carried out by McKinsey, in the first quarter of 2024 more than 70% of the stakeholders in the healthcare field have integrated the use of AI in the development of their work. This data explains the urgency of integrating it into the design of healthcare environments.
AI as a cross-cutting technology in the healthcare field
The integration of AI is taking place in different areas of the healthcare field such as patient management, clinical practice and facility management.
In patient management, the trend will be towards increasing the personalisation of services. To this end, the use of predictive algorithms will feed a database focused on improving the patient experience in healthcare centres. Among other things, this will make it possible to organise and optimise the healthcare centre’s resources according to demand. It will be possible, for example, to know in real time how many patients will arrive at the hospital and to coordinate the flows and services associated with their needs. Clinical information will also benefit from the use of new technologies that integrate AI. A patient’s medical history will include a massive increase in information that will help diagnosis and treatment be more accurate and personalised based on the genetic data collected.
Clinical practice will also increasingly integrate the use of AI at different levels. By 2030, we will have the first complete digital twin of a human being, advancing the early diagnosis of disease. Medical treatments can be personalised based on the tests performed on the digital twins. In addition, genetic information incorporating the entire DNA of each individual can be included for diagnosis and treatment. The field of telemedicine will also see extensive development because of the incorporation of AI. According to the National Engineering Laboratory for Internet Medical Systems and Applications, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (China), we are currently witnessing an huge increase in the use of telemedicine: 74% of professionals in the sector have already used it. This channel allows for remarkable time efficiency: 64% of consultations last between 11 and 30 minutes. Finally, the development of robotics incorporating these new technologies will also increase dramatically in the coming years in clinical practice. Increasingly, robots with greater autonomy will be used for medical purposes. From soft robots to AI orthopaedics for rehabilitation, a wide variety of robots will be deployed to accompany the patient in various medical processes.
The second part of this approach to new technologies applied to healthcare architecture will be continued shortly. We will walk through examples of the impact of these technologies in the facility management of buildings. We will also include conclusions about the impact on architectural aspects of healthcare facilities.