Digital Technology in Visceral Medicine: An Overview in Outpatient Care in Germany

Abstract

Background: Digital technology has become an integral part of healthcare and will revolutionize the practice of medicine. Although previously the administrative tasks were captured by digital technologies, now the communication channels with the patients are also being focused. For example, taking medical histories is now made possible by this new technology, information and explanatory forms can be sent digitally, and even face-to-face consultations are increasingly made possible by video consultations. Especially in the COVID pandemic, this form of contactless encounter has become a valuable enrichment of medical care. But also telemedical tasks such as teleconsultation or artificial intelligence in the context of adenoma detection are techniques that are conquering outpatient and inpatient visceral medical care.

Summary: This article gives an overview of digital communication and possible uses of digital technologies in medical practices in Germany.

Key message: Medicine is renewing itself through digital techniques. The pace of change is rapid and unstoppable. Today's medical progress is no longer conceivable without these techniques.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Digital anamnesis; Digital health applications; Patient journey; Teleconsultation; Video consultation.

Fig. 1

Components of a tablet workflow.

Fig. 2

Typical data journey from patient to doctor.

Fig. 3

An example of process digitalization used for sedation documentation as part of endoscopy.

Fig. 4

Detection and real-time marking of a sessile polyp using GI Genius from Medtronic.