There's never been a better time for a career in health technology

The healthcare industry is undergoing a profound transformation, triggered by changes in disease patterns, the rise of digital technology and consumer expectations of a seamless, personalized health experience. Healthcare is one of the last industries to be digitized, as research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) shows. Many consider it antiquated, bureaucratic, fragmented and too focused on people who are already sick rather than taking a proactive approach to better population health.

I’ve experienced the unnecessary complexity and fragmentation in healthcare first-hand. When my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and later when my dad was being treated for cancer, I became frustrated with the lack of coordinated care, silo-ed data and the gaping gaps in the care continuum. I knew from my experience working at Citibank that information technology wasn’t being used to its best advantage in healthcare. This realization motivated me to change my career path, and I’m deeply grateful to be contributing to the improvement of healthcare today. It fulfills a very personal goal for me of creating positive impact on the health of many. Seeing the benefit of our work for patients, their families and healthcare professionals fuels my motivation and affirms that we’re making progress.

Healthcare is in dire need of new models of care. Yet, exciting changes are starting to take effect with proven applications for new technologies like virtual care, artificial intelligence and genomics. These technologies are being used to create new solutions like precision diagnostics, therapies based on gene-editing and robotics for surgery.

Every day I am learning about new opportunities to apply technology to make healthcare more accessible, affordable and manageable for billions of people around the world.

Every day I am learning about new opportunities to apply technology to make healthcare more accessible, affordable and manageable for billions of people around the world. It truly motivates me to see the tremendous impact that digital health technologies offer when translated into meaningful innovation. From the use of smart catheters and image-guided procedures for better treatment of heart disease, to enabling access to basic healthcare in remote locations using virtual care.

As the industry changes, so do the roles and skills required. We need motivated digital natives to bring their adaptability, creativity, passion and tech savviness to healthcare, so we can design innovative solutions for the challenges in the current system.

Software engineers and user experience designers will be surprised by the level of disruption and innovation they can drive. The healthcare industry might not be top-of-mind for digital talent, but progress in technology and medical science make it an appealing destination.

Technology is shaping the industry

Before the digital revolution, healthcare was already an information intensive industry but largely deployed in siloes, which has led to many familiar problems like a lack of interoperability and coordination. Most of today’s systems are based on static data and workflow models with cumbersome user interfaces. But the reality of healthcare is dynamic and emerging!

Diagnosis, prognosis, patient treatment, support – these are all processes that demand deep knowledge and insight, applied and personalized to the specific needs of the patient. Most professional care providers just don’t have enough bandwidth to take in, record and share all the information they encounter each day. Technology will support those professionals in diagnosis, therapy selection and patient care.

With mounting pressure on health systems to deliver better care to more people at lower costs, tech is being used to bridge the gap and rewrite the book on healthcare. Increasingly, tech is being employed to enhance healthcare professionals’ understanding of patients by gathering, synthesizing and analyzing clinical, behavorial and contextual data into insights. Here are some examples to put the vastness of the healthcare data that Philips systems are generating into perspective:

• 2 million medical images a week are acquired on average by each of our largest customers
• 275 million people are monitored every year in Intensive Care Units using our patient monitoring solutions
• 2.5 billion nights of cloud-based sleep and therapy data has been collected over the past 10 years from more than 5 million connected sleep therapy devices

This data and the technology behind it has the power to radically transform how, when and where healthcare is delivered. At Philips, we are focused on comprehensive solutions, not just devices. We need people that can make sure all the connected devices are working together as part of a seamless healthcare ecosystem.

Bringing together diverse minds in networked teams

To meet the health needs of people across the world, it’s imperative that we bring together professionals from diverse backgrounds that can work across disciplines in cells that create holistic solutions. We not only need medical doctors and nurses, but also data scientists, engineers, experience designers and business modelers to be working in tandem to solve the biggest challenges for the industry. Bringing together those with unique skills allows organizations to benefit from strong, diverse, agile and adaptive teams.

Multi-disciplinary teams that connect in a network make good organizations great – just look at the Cleveland Clinic, following the reorganization of its business. When siloes are broken down, networks open up opportunities to collaborate better, tapping into the best, innovative thinking from a diversity of perspectives. This approach also brings the power of continuous learning and improvement – through peer support and hands-on mentoring. Every day we are exposed to fresh perspectives that can have a positive effect on creativity, efficiency and contribution. This is the way of the modern organization, and a model where bright, curious minds thrive.

Looking to the future

In the coming years, healthcare solutions will become smarter, more adaptive and interactive. And the people making them need to be too. With the acceleration of technology, the next generation will have the ability to eradicate or better manage many of the health problems that their loved ones struggle with today, like diabetes, heart failure or cancer. There are many interesting jobs out there, but if you’re in a position to impact people’s lives at scale, that’s a true privilege and more than just a job. When we unite the brightest, most innovative minds, anything is possible. There’s no better time to start a career in healthcare than right now.

Are you interested in joining a team that’s turning today’s health systems into the care networks of the future? Philips may be the right place for you.