The 6 Best Orthopedic Technologies & Software Solutions for Orthopedic Doctors
The medical landscape is complex, ever-changing, and diverse. Orthopedic doctors, much like other specialty doctors, are learning to simplify processes, improve workflows, and implement innovative tools. Some of these novel technologies include software for both clinical tasks, as well as office management.
From dislocated shoulders, knee conditions, sprains, tears, and back injuries, as an orthopedic doctor, you definitely see it all. But in addition to diagnosing and treating medical conditions, many doctors also spend time in the operating room. Working at surgery centers and hospitals, orthopedic surgeons strive to surgically improve their patients’ musculoskeletal health.
In fact, more than one out of every two people in the US suffers from some sort of musculoskeletal disease.¹ This statistic looks even dimmer for individuals over 65 years of age as almost three out of every four suffer from said conditions.¹
The most prominent musculoskeletal problems experienced by patients are¹:
(1) trauma,
(2) back pain due to underlying back issues,
(3) and arthritis.
To do your job effectively, you as an orthopedic doctor are heavily relying on technology (especially if you are an orthopedic surgeon), and you may be taking advantage of newer tools designed to help you efficiently achieve better results. How? Let’s take a look.
Trends & Innovations Benefiting Orthopedics
Technological advances often become critical assistants to orthopedic doctors — helping them optimize patient health outcomes and simplifying measures to accomplish positive results. From various software for their medical needs to orthopedic devices and surgical tools, orthopedic technologies promise to facilitate smoother and more efficient workflows.
Rapid growth in the healthcare industry has made it necessary to explore and adopt new technologies, which can potentially result in achieving a competitive advantage for your practice when innovative solutions are implemented successfully.
Best Software for Medical Evaluations & Procedures
Orthopedic doctors, and orthopedic surgeons, in particular, have benefited from the many advancements the medical field has seen in recent decades. Many devices, tools, apps, and software available for medical evaluations and surgeries, replace outdated methodology while providing higher accuracy and achieving improved patient care results.
Below are three of the most innovative solutions that have tremendously changed the lives of orthopedic doctors and their patients alike.
(1) Augmented Reality
Orthopedic surgery includes some highly complex procedures that require precision, skill, and time. Virtual reality or augmented reality helps orthopedic doctors prepare for surgeries, such as spinal fusion and joint replacement surgeries.
Why preparedness is so important?
Given the level of complexity, augmented reality offers a software solution for visualizing medical procedures by mimicking real-life procedures and patient anatomy. Hence, physicians are able to learn and perfect their skills, becoming both, more efficient and accurate.
(2) Robotics
Another technological advancement that has made waves on the orthopedic side of our healthcare system is robotics. Orthopedic doctors — and primarily orthopedic surgeons, can benefit greatly from this technology as it saves time and allows procedures to be handled more efficiently.
But it’s also less invasive, allows for more precise incisions, and leads to shorter recovery windows for patients.
(3) 3D Printing
Revolutionizing medicine as we know it, 3D printing makes printing structural replacements customizable — based on their individual assessments and needs, 3D printing provides the advantage of more suitable, better-fitting replacements.
With such a large number of patients requiring knee or hip replacement surgeries every year, 3D printing can offer invaluable personalized designs as medicine continues to advance.
Software for Medical Practices: Tools Advancing Orthopedic Offices
With significant advances improving direct patient care and treatment, new software introduced in the medical space has further facilitated how we interact with patients, manage how we operate, and impacted the type of care we provide.
As most doctors see up to 20 patients per day,² it’s crucial that physicians work efficiently, while giving the patient a chance to express their concerns as well.
Orthopedic practices, therefore, rely on novel solutions and innovative orthopedic technologies to run their offices smoothly and meet high standards of care. This applies to all facilities providing orthopedic care, including surgery centers, hospitals, as well as orthopedic practices.
Want to know more about some of the most effective software for your medical practice and what tools can really help your daily operations?
Here are three of the most important ones:
(1) Virtual Healthcare
While there are many groundbreaking software solutions for medical practices available, we’re particularly interested in such that bring in new patients and offer convenience — a factor that has gained significance, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Virtual healthcare is a way orthopedic doctors can reach a marginalized population:
- patients that are unable (i.e. due to logistics) to physically make it to the office,
- those that are too fragile or ill to leave the house,
- or those that would otherwise not attend to their health if a convenient-for-them time and place were out of reach.
In many ways, virtual healthcare has redefined how care can be delivered, allowing a more inclusive approach to medical consultations and more accessible care.
(2) Office Management
Running your own practice, let alone a hospital floor is a daunting task. With a busy schedule, orthopedic doctors, much like other physicians, require a handful of tools that can help make their jobs easier and help run in-house operations seamlessly.
One of these great software solutions for your medical practice is a reliable office management tool (including practice management software and EMRs).
While you might not find an all-in-one type solution, you should know your options and adopt what works best for you. From software that can schedule appointments and send automatic patient reminders to sending timely e-bills and electronic prescriptions, as well as such that will send instant patient messages to facilitate communication, do your research on what is available to you.
Designed to make the life of orthopedic doctors easier, know that many software solutions available for your medical facility can save you both time and money, eliminating mistakes and increasing accuracy — which, in turn, leads to higher patient satisfaction.
(3) Requesting Medical Records
Another issue orthopedic doctors face is the need for medical records in order to make well-informed and timely assessments. Many patients that end up seeing an orthopedist are referred by their primary care provider. Therefore, there is almost always a need to investigate past patient complaints and historical clinical information — making it crucial to obtain medical records from outside offices.
But requesting medical records for almost every patient can quickly become messy. And let’s not forget how time-consuming it is. From filling out forms to calling up offices and chasing clinical data, orthopedic doctors and their staff can easily waste hours after hours requesting medical records.
The good news is that there’s a software solution for this medical need — requesting, sorting, and extracting clinical data efficiently through a cloud-based application. Vivlio Health strives to save you time and keep things simple.
You don’t need to invest all your energy in obtaining patient data, instead, you can focus on your job, quickly navigating through parts of your patient’s medical history that is relevant to your clinical decision-making and treatment plan. If you want to book a demo, reach out and begin preserving your most valuable asset: time.
It’s Time to Embrace New Software for Your Medical Facility
New innovative technologies seek to maintain their momentum to move both care and practice workflows towards greater efficiencies and better results. Many software solutions are now available for your medical facility: able to enhance the patient care experience, save orthopedic doctors time, and increase revenue by improving workplace efficiency.
Several cloud-based software solutions offer free demos or trials, so you can ensure you like the application and it works well for your facility. This allows you to try it out with limited risk and potentially see tremendous rewards.
For your staff and patients, efficiency and precision are key. Fortunately, technology helps us get there more quickly and with ease.
—
Want to learn more about Vivlio Health and what we do? We’d love to hear from you and are happy to answer any questions you may have for us. Reach out here and we’ll be in touch.
References:
-
BMUS: The Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases in the United States, https://www.boneandjointburden.org/. Accessed 1 May 2023.
-
Michas, Frédéric. “Number of patients U.S. physicians saw per day 2018.” Statista, 27 July 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/613959/us-physicans-patients-seen-per-day/. Accessed 2 May 2023.