Digitalisation has been part of my working life for a long time, both as a nurse and later as an ICT engineer. When I worked as a nurse, I started by using paper records and, as technology developed, moved on to electronic patient record systems, electronic prescriptions, laboratory information systems, and of course, the OmaKanta service. Over the years, these systems have improved significantly, although there is still room for improvement in usability. Most of the time, information systems make work faster, but sometimes technical problems or system complexity take time away from patient care. Integrations between different systems are not always very smooth.
My ICT studies gave me a new perspective on digitalisation. Before that, I mainly looked at information systems from the user’s point of view. Today, I understand much better what happens behind the systems. For example, cloud services, cybersecurity, system integrations, and user access management are topics whose importance has become much clearer to me. This has helped me understand why healthcare systems sometimes feel complicated to use. The reason is often the need to protect patient information in properly, not only the technical implementation.
Overall, digitalisation has brought many benefits to healthcare. Patient information is quickly available at different healthcare organisations, laboratory results are transferred automatically into the systems, and electronic prescriptions make everyday life easier for both patients and healthcare professionals. Remote appointments and online services have also become more common, improving access to healthcare, especially in areas with long distances, or making it easier to use healthcare services during the working day because no travel time is needed.
Digitalisation has changed every industry. Cloud services, artificial intelligence, and automation are becoming an increasingly important part of efficient and cost-effective business operations in every organisation. This has also made cybersecurity skills more important than before. Digitalisation no longer means only introducing new software, but a complete change in the way organisations work.
How Will Digitalisation Change the Future?
I believe that digitalisation will significantly change healthcare in the future. Artificial intelligence can help analyse large amounts of data and identify diseases faster than before. Large datasets will make it possible to create more accurate predictions about disease development and treatment effectiveness.
Medical devices will become increasingly connected with each other. Patient measurements can be monitored remotely more often, allowing possible problems to be identified earlier. Robotics may also help healthcare professionals by transporting medicines or supplies in hospitals. In the future, drones may even be used to deliver medicines to remote areas or between healthcare units.
Virtual technology can also improve healthcare education. Students can practise different procedures safely before working with real patients. At the same time, artificial intelligence can support doctors and nurses in decision-making or detect possible mistakes, for example in medication lists, further improving patient safety. However, artificial intelligence should never replace human professional skills or responsibility but should only be used as a support tool.
From the perspective of an ICT engineer, I believe that the most important future skills will be cybersecurity, cloud services, and artificial intelligence. Technology is developing rapidly, so continuous learning will be necessary in almost every profession.
Risks of an Open Digital Society and GDPR
Digitalisation also brings new risks. Healthcare organisations process highly sensitive personal data, so data breaches can have serious consequences for both individuals and organisations. Phishing, ransomware, and identity theft have also become more common in recent years, both in workplaces and among private individuals.
Another challenge is that not everyone can keep up with digital development. For elderly people or people with limited digital skills, online services can be difficult to use. If people do not know how to use these services correctly, this can also become a cybersecurity risk because they may not fully understand what they are doing. For this reason, traditional service channels will still be needed in the future.
GDPR has strengthened people’s rights regarding their personal data. As a registered nurse, I can see this especially in the increased attention given to handling patient information. User access rights are strictly limited, and the use of patient information is monitored through log data.
From the perspective of an ICT engineer, GDPR also affects system design. Cybersecurity must be considered already during the development phase, and systems must support user access management, log collection, and data protection.
I think GDPR has been a very positive reform overall. It increases trust in digital services and encourages organisations to invest more in cybersecurity. On the other hand, it also increases administrative work, documentation, and staff training requirements.
My Experience with ChatGPT
I asked ChatGPT several questions related to healthcare. The answers were well structured and sounded reasonable. The responses were often quite long but were still rather general and superficial. The answers often lacked depth. It also often suggested calling the emergency number 112. In addition, the way the question is written affects whether the answer is more positive or more critical.
The answers cannot fully consider the special characteristics of real working life. Therefore, artificial intelligence should not be used as the only source of information, and its answers should always be evaluated carefully. Regarding its training data, artificial intelligence cannot distinguish where the information originally comes from or how it has been combined. Its web search also cannot access closed databases or information behind paywalls, where the most reliable information is often found. When asked, ChatGPT can provide links to support information found through web searches.
In my opinion, ChatGPT is an excellent tool for generating ideas and organising information. It can save a lot of time and help find new perspectives. In healthcare, artificial intelligence can support professionals in the future, but responsibility for decisions will always remain with humans.
Self-assessment
These assignments helped me review topics that were already familiar to me but are still very current and important. Especially the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence, together with the risks related to it, made me think about the future.
I believe that the knowledge of a registered nurse and an ICT engineer complements each other very well. Nursing provides an understanding of users’ needs, while ICT knowledge helps understand how secure and reliable systems can be designed and used.
Regarding the videos, especially the TED Talks were more than ten years old. I rarely watch technology videos that old anymore, and I usually try to find videos that are no more than five years old. However, these videos showed that many of the ideas presented had already become reality or were already developing. Digitalisation is progressing rapidly, but many of today’s developments were already visible many years ago.