I was born at the early 1980s when there was only small signs of digitalization. Although at that time those things felt very big and important. Digitalization has developed enormously since my birth and especially in the 2000s. Despite of the development I am still driving a car with manual gears although it is also possible to sit on a nice massaging car seat while the car drives itself and moves with electricity. You don’t need a paper map either to find a route, the virtual navigator guides you to the destination.

Photo by picjumbo.com on Pexels.com

Today digitalization is an essential part of life. It is even scary how strongly digitalization is present in every day life. I have always followed developments little by little and even bought my first smart phone only few years ago. My children have no idea of the time when there was no computers, cell phones, internet and so on. Although digitalization makes life easier in many ways, its vulnerability comes out in problematic situations. When not functioning, it is difficult or even impossible to make things work.

Fortunately it has also started to be done research of the negative sides and effects of digitalization on people too. I have already noticed how digitalization reduces the oral communication between people, especially among young people. It is also a challenge for our concentration skills because the information is constantly coming from everywhere. On the other hand the information you need is always easily available thanks to digitalization. Recently I was hiking and without any digital contacts for a week. It was quite confusing but at the same time very releasing. Though it would have felt unsafe if I would not have my cell phone with me at all.

DIGITALIZATION IN THE LABORATORY FIELD

I have worked in a clinical laboratory for about 15 years and digitalization has already been present from the beginning of my career. Before digitalization there was a lot of handwork in laboratory. Performing the analyses were mainly done by the laboratory workers instead of the machines. Also test requests were handwritten and test results were delivered to the care unit on paper. Nowadays digitalization has a big role in the laboratory field too and the whole laboratory process has been and will be digitalized even more. Test requests are made and transferred via electronic information system to the laboratory. Also test results are transferred electronically to the care units in real time. In the laboratory automated analyzers do most of the analysis. Analyzers are connected to the intermediate information systems so that the data like test requests and results is transferring automatically between analyzer and electronic information system. Nowadays laboratory appointments can be booked electronically too. When visiting laboratory it is also possible that there is no open office at all but there is an electronic device for self registration.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

Digitalization has definitely improved the quality of laboratory work. Test results are comparable when analyses process has been automated and done the same way every time. Digitalization has also speeded up the laboratory process and test results are available to the care units faster. In acute cases this is very relevant in terms of treatment. In addition common electronic data systems enable that the results are available more widely than only to requesting unit. With digitalization it has also become possible to predict risk of cancer or other diseases using big data available.

Digitalization has also brought help in making decisions. For example ECG devices give us a suggestion of interpretation with the help of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence can also be used to suggest or automatically analyze the further tests needed from the sample and give us a sign if there is something abnormal in the test results. Almost every laboratory has electronic manuals for laboratory examinations too which help and guide to choose essential laboratory tests and interpret laboratory results. Electronic manuals are also useful in preparing for the laboratory tests or performing the laboratory examination correctly which in turn increases the reliability of the results. Electronic manuals are easy to update and the updated information is immediately available to everyone.

Today organizations are getting bigger an bigger all the time and so it is in the laboratory field also. I think digitalization has a big influence on this. Thanks to the common electronic information systems laboratory examinations can be done at any branch of the organization. Digitalization has also made it possible to easily cooperate in a big and widespread organization. It is not necessary to be at the same place because you can use programmes like Teams to gather people on the same appointment. The use of E-mail has become too more common method of communication with the trend of remote management in a large organization.

In the future I think even more laboratory work is automated and less laboratory experts are needed. This is challenging the maintenance of competence of laboratory professionals. Unfortunately a certain kind of professionalism is disappearing but at the same time we need a new kind of skills in an increasingly digital environment. In addition to analyzers there are already for example softwares which mainly do the microscoping of blood cells and manual microscoping is used only when necessary. Maybe it will be possible to register the ECG with wireless electrodes or even without electrodes too in the future? Robotics will certainly increase even more and as shown in one video of the orientation material it is possible that robotics can be taken advantage of delivering blood samples or even taking blood samples in the future. Is robotics maybe a solution for lack of laboratory professionals, who knows… However everything can not be replaced by robotics.

THE RISKS AND BENEFITS OF OPEN DIGITAL SOCIETY

Digitalization has brought a new term “cyber security” with it. Open digital society is always a risk for privacy. To protect personal data from outsiders every electronic systems has passwords. This means that there is a lot of different passwords to remember both at work and in personal life too. In addition to valid passwords it is also important to consider what digital services and apps you use, how do you use them and what information you share in the digital environment. All personal data must be handled carefully on the internet because what has been published can not be wholly destroyed. However open digital society and electronic systems has made it possible to handle a lot of things at home. The personal data is also available whenever you need it. But what is unfortunate, open digital society has offered one more way to do harassment too.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force on 2016 and it has been applied from 2018. GDPR has improved the protection of individuals and given more authority to decide how your personal data is used and handled. However it causes more work to organizations with different kind of registers when they have to inform the individuals on what personal data is collected, how it is used, stored and destroyed. Organizations has also no right to collect any other information than what is necessary. From an individual’s point of view the personal data has become more open to the individual itself with GDPR which I think is a good thing in contrast. Especially nowadays when Individuals have to take more responsibility for example of their own treatment it is important to be aware about your own things too. Individual’s right to get information about their personal data and processing of their data is also relevant in terms of patient safety in health care and abuse.

SELF EVALUATION

This assignment was very interesting and made me thinking the digitalization and its development. It is funny that necessarily you do not even notice the digitalization and development around you because it is so normal in modern society. This assignment was a kind of journey from the 1980s to this point. I realize how things have changed in both good and bad ways and will be change more in the future. It is quite clear that digitalization is going to take more place in personal and working life because development will not stop, vice versa. This assignment was a good reminder too that it is up to you and your choices how your privacy is protected in an open digital society. It is actually scary how much information can be obtained about you only if you have smart phone with you.

This was my first blog post ever so now I know how to do it. It was nice to read postings from others too and I noticed it is also a good way of learning. That I have not thought earlier. I have not use my English either for a long time and that is what I need to practice more. So let’s get forward to the next assignment…

I commented on:

Tepu tells stories by Teija Ahonen

Taija’s site by Taija Häkkinen