Cloud Computing in Healthcare: Benefits, Challenges, and Applications

This report analyzes the impact of cloud technology on the healthcare sector. It highlights the benefits, such as cost reduction, improved data security, and enhanced collaboration among healthcare providers. The report references the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK and Children’s Mercy Hospital as examples of successful cloud technology implementation. These institutions have used cloud technology to improve patient care and reduce mortality rates. The report also acknowledges the challenges associated with adopting this technology, including limited skills and funding, but suggests that careful implementation can lead to success. The report emphasizes the potential for cloud technology to revolutionize healthcare through improved data sharing and streamlined workflows. This report also mentions the use of cloud technology for storing large amounts of data at low cost, protecting vital healthcare data, preventing data leakage, and providing recovery services and strong backup base. It covers how cloud technology can help to unite social care, primary care, and hospitals through a software platform without sending physical letters to one another. The report also discusses the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for sharing data, and the potential for this technology to increase competition among the several institutes who have adopted it.

TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGES IN HEALTHCARE:

Applying cloud computer technology in healthcare enables to store large amount of data at an
unbelievably low cost without having to bear the expenses and limitations of additional servers
or hardware. Cloud storage helps in protecting vital healthcare data, prevents leakage, have
recovery services and strong backup base. National health services (NHS), UK has utilized cloud
technology for storing information of patients. The potential benefits of using cloud are reduced
costs, improved security and making the in house team free to work on other activities among
them. The main benefit of this technology is social care, primary care and hospitals can unite
through this software platform without sending physical letters to one another (Cowan, Ruth
Schwartz 81-97). As the institute adapts this technology, GPs and hospitals will be able
collaborate easily and closely within real time. Cloud will also help in sharing data through
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City has been using cloud technology which supports tablet
based application and enables parents and providers to pass data related to at risk infants post
surgery. This program has reduced the rate of fatality; cloud technology has positively impacted
the clinical outcome of the hospital. Thus the adoption of this innovative technology has helped
the healthcare institutions earn immense benefits but has also increased competition between the
several institutes who have adopted it. There are some obstacles related to adopting this
technology like limited skills and funds but experts believe that NHS will achieve success slowly
by adopting approaches emphasizing on cloud while making new developments (Weaver et al.).

Work cited
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. "The “Industrial Revolution” in the home: household technology and
social change in the twentieth century." The Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space
and Gender. Routledge, 2018. 81-97.
Weaver, Paul, et al. Sustainable technology development. Routledge, 2017.