According to one expert, the healthcare system is dependent on digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with the shortage of skilled workers. Technology is needed to maintain the level of health care, said Sophia Walczyk from the Digitization department of the University Medicine Greifswald of the German Press Agency. A large proportion of nurses and general practitioners will retire in the next ten years. “And nothing follows.”
In order to be able to cushion this with technology, digital skills must be developed among employees, but also among the population, so that people can use apps for their health and also have the necessary trust. AI is a very complex topic. “I think that will help us a lot.” As possible examples, she named the automation of processes in administration or the creation of doctor’s letters or surgical reports based on available data. Doctors would then only have to check such reports.
The first nationwide hackathon on the subject, organized by Walczyk, aims to show how technology can be used to solve problems in the healthcare sector. Interested parties are asked to work in teams to find solutions, for example on the subject of care in rural areas, relief from home and inpatient care or AI and data security. The concrete problems are to be published on Thursday.
Participants then have several weeks to develop solutions. The final of the hackathon will take place in Greifswald at the beginning of June. The best solutions should be awarded and implemented as pilot projects.
Germany is still lagging behind compared to other countries when it comes to digitization in the healthcare system, said Walczyk. “I still don’t know why we can’t do that in healthcare.” Denmark, for example, extensively uses electronic signatures for identification in the administrative and healthcare sectors. “They’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and we’re just getting started in Germany.”
Health-Care Hackathon
