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What do you do when you can’t get past the doctor? With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing others around the world to stay at home and avoid overcrowded and potentially infected areas, this has a major concern.
The pandemic has unleashed a new wave of innovation, losing new diagnostic and remote care technologies that have been around for some time but are limited to medical practice.
The Dutch startup community, one of the fastest growing generation centers in Europe, has played a key role in creating new equipment and services to ensure that doctors can monitor and care for patients remotely. Techleap.nl, a nonprofit organization tasked with accelerating the Dutch startup ecosystem, has helped nurture and expand healthcare generation startups that now provide remote care in the Netherlands and beyond.
Here are some medical spaces where new companies make doctor visits a thing of the past.
Bad vision is a challenge that affects 4.3 billion people worldwide. And access to eye care is already complicated before the COVID-19 scenario. “In many countries, access to eye care is limited, resulting in long waiting times,” says Yves Prevoo, founder and CEO of Easee, a startup founded in the Netherlands. Even in Europe, patients would possibly have to wait up to 12 months before they could see an ophthalmologist.
The state of emergency caused by COVID-19 has only made things worse. Because the eyes are among the main parts of the frame where a user can get a coronavirus, ophthalmology clinics have among the first places to close or realize to decrease congestion to involve the spread of the virus.
“The challenge is that to look into someone’s eyes, you have to come face to face,” Prevoo says. “This is a domain that is deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis and you can see this by the fact that the first user to die from the virus is an ophthalmologist in China.”
Easee, a component of Techleap.nl Rise, a program to help expand promising new Dutch companies, has helped to pinpoint the challenge to some extent by providing a clinically proven online eye exam. The company’s internet application can be accessed from the browser. The patient performs several steps with a PC and a smartphone to perform the self-examination of visual acuity and refractive error. The tool has been tested and approved through an organization of specialists from the University of Utrecht.
During COVID-19 blocking, online remote testing particularly reduced congestion in ophthalmic clinics by reducing unnecessary patient shutdown. Many ophthalmologists already use videoconferencing equipment to make a stop at their patients. The Easee app has become a selection tool for many clinicians in their remote classification sessions.
“This gives them more knowledge on decision-making issues,” Prevoo says.
The check will not update eye specialists, Prevoo issues. “We don’t look into the eyes. For some conditions, it’s not the most productive way to see what’s happening,” he says.
But a reliable online self-assessment formula can ensure that limited eye care human resources are directed to the right places and after COVID-19 blocking. “For some patients, undeniable visual acuity control is all you want to make a decision about whether or not to enter the hospital,” Prevoo says. “The numbers are so vital that it gives ophthalmologists a lot of time to focus on patients who really want in-person visits.”
Remote attention can also have life-changing effects that go beyond the existing limits imposed through the COVID-19 situation. And the key is a style that ranges from hospital presence requirement to data provision and patient care anytime, anywhere.
One example is stroke patients, who make up a significant percentage of the population. Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability and, in the EU alone, it accounts for EUR 45 billion in annual fitness costs.
“In stroke care, ‘Time-Brain’ and treating a patient just 30 minutes earlier can save about two years of healthy life or make a difference between patients with severe disabilities or live independent lives,” says Kate Backhouse, Nico’s commercial director. laboratory, Techleap.nl Rise startup founded in the Netherlands.
To reduce reaction times, Nico.lab has developed StrokeViewer, a software formula that supports radiologists in the stroke care workflow. “Our portfolio of synthetic intelligence algorithms that automatically analyze CT scans combined with an easy-to-use formula architecture allows doctors to focus on the care that matters, to make faster, larger decisions that lead to greater patient care,” Backhouse says.
Upon arrival at the hospital, stroke patients undergo a CT scan and scans are sent to StrokeViewer for AI analysis. StrokeViewer promptly notifies doctors that they can log in from anywhere through any device to see AI results. Based on these results, doctors are the most productive treatment, infrequently they transfer a patient to a larger hospital for a specialized procedure. In such cases, they can instantly transmit patient photos securely to the treatment team that can already begin making treatment plans.
“Previously, doctors had to compare the photographs with the naked eye, which is often very difficult, especially when radiologists specializing in the hospital’s night shifts are not provided,” Backhouse says. StrokeViewer streamlines workflow by allowing radiologists to securely adhere and interfere with from anywhere without having to drive to the hospital, which can lead to delays that the patient cannot afford.
During the blocking of COVID-19, StrokeViewer allowed radiologists to host hospitals. This has been especially useful for radiologists who are most likely to contract the virus. But the long-term merit is the fastest reaction time of seamless connectivity and remote control features.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led us to reconsider our models of care and innovate in a way that was rejected or unthinkable in the past. The list of technologies created today will help us weather the pandemic storm. But the transformation it brings to medical practice will remain long after we’ve succeeded the virus.
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