The Role of Technology in Tracking, Testing and Treating COVID-19

Following the outbreak and continued growth of COVID-19 cases, various health care stakeholders are in the search for medication and tools to fight the pandemic. The digital health community has released new tools aimed at monitoring the spread of the virus and facilitating improved treatment.

Technology has been recognized for decades for helping the medical industry to track and treat various ailments. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, different tech firms have stepped in to help combat the virus as they have developed digital epidemiology tools, including rapid-response test kits, EHR guidance tools, and healthcare chatbots. Below is the role of tech in tracking, testing, and treating COVID-19.

Online Training Resource

A free online resource has been launched to train healthcare providers on safe, essential, and significant practices regarding COVID-19. The resource is known as COVID med ed, aims at bringing together various guidelines and research alongside training healthcare providers and professionals globally. The resource features reviews of the latest pandemic, COVID-19 guidelines, and relevant tests on the main clinical areas.

COVID-first virtual care

A risk assessment has been launched by tech firms to deal with COVID-19 cases. The virtual care also includes video and triage consult platform for dealing with the virus cases.

The COVID-first virtual care is called CovidMD is a tool designed to automate communications and offer patients a platform to fill out a free assessment about the medical history and the current symptoms. They are provided with customized guidance and an option to connect with a telemedicine appointment. The virtual visits are reliable, fast, and convenient as they are finished on the same day. Additionally, through personalized guidance, patients are able to seek medication through telemedicine.

Telemedicine Integrations

Patients who are suffering from chronic diseases and depend on mobile glucose management systems will have in-app access to various healthcare providers and specialists. The virtual services provided via the application include chronic disease management conditions, including hypertension and diabetes, acute care, and specialty consultations. 

Telemedicine significantly improves value-based care and has many benefits:

Consumer-Initiated antibody testing

Laboratory testing firms have developed consumer-initiated COVID-19 antibody tests at affordable prices. The service allows consumers to request an antibody test via an online platform. After the request has been initiated, it is then sent to a licensed physician who allows the testing order. Patients can then visit service centers to get their blood drawn and get their results in less than two days through the online portal. The patients can then discuss the obtained results with the doctor for personalized treatment.

Increased psychiatric therapeutics

Different tech firms are rolling out new digital therapies intended at treating schizophrenia for limited distribution. This follows the loosening of FDA regulations regarding psychiatric disorders tools during this period of coronavirus pandemic.

The tool for psychiatric therapy is called Pear-004. It uses multimodal neurobehavioral interventions together with antipsychotic medicines. Patients who have schizophrenia can use this tool for cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis, social skills training, and illness self-management training.

The tool must be used under the supervision of a doctor. Tech firms are collaborating with various healthcare providers and learning institutions for the distribution of the tool. Pear-004 strives to help people suffering from schizophrenia by offering temporary access to medical products.

Nursing home tracing

Tech firms have rolled out a set of contract-tracing tools aimed at senior living facilities that can track COVID-19. The new set of tools includes contact tracing, path tracing, location tracking, and room traffic. The device can also be used for indoor location technology for the identification of staff members and who they came into contact with. Through such tech, it is easy for health providers to trace COVID-19 patients and provide them with medication.

Clinical trials

The tech industry has launched a public health tool called World Without COVID to connect patients to coronavirus clinical trials globally. The tool aims at helping boost clinical research and treatment of COVID-19.

Plasma Donation

A new healthcare chatbot has been developed to help people who recovered from the virus decide if they can donate their plasma to assist in clinical research and treatment. The chatbot is designed to screen patients before donating plasma. The chatbots also ask patients questions regarding coronavirus status. The bot will also ask typical questions regarding blood donation like age, HIV status, and weight cutoffs.