Are South African medical professionals and medical practice owners ready to embrace advances in technology to work smarter, earn better and enjoy more time doing the things they care about the most?
The 2018 World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report cites that as technological breakthroughs rapidly shift the frontier between the work tasks performed by humans and those performed by machines and algorithms, global labour markets are undergoing major transformations. These transformations, if managed wisely, could lead to a new age of good work, good jobs and improved quality of life for all, but if managed poorly, pose the risk of widening skills gaps, greater inequality and broader polarization.
In addition to the 2018 Future of Jobs Report, research conducted by various institutions and consulting firms highlights the fact that the nature of work across almost every industry is rapidly being disrupted by several factors. Technology is driving increased automation, affecting the proximity of where work is performed, and giving rise to new, open talent models and the healthcare space is no exception.
With this shift comes the immense opportunity to alleviate current pain points like nursing shortages and physician burnout, and refocus professions on mission oriented, fulfilling work that meets the demand of the public.
The collaborative economy
Accenture Research recently concluded a study of future workforce trends, including in health care, and the data point to significant growth for the industry, both in terms of jobs and revenues, as AI moves beyond rudimentary automation and enables greater collaboration between humans and machines. The data predict that, from 2018 to 2022, employment in health care will increase by 15% while revenues will surge by 49%.
The sharing economy is bringing people together. In our small and beautifully connected world – reputation, community, and shared access matters. Shifting from hyper-consumption to collaboration consumption has given a renewed belief in the value of reputation, community and shared access. How are organizations going to learn?
Organizations – both big and small – will need to adapt to new challenges to survive. Redistribution markets, collaborative lifestyles, and product service systems have spurred the rise of consumptive collaboration through technology such as LocumBase.com, the independent SaaS platform that connects freelance medical professionals with practices and hospitals that need them.
Traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities bloomed into the sharing economy. Underutilized assets and resources are offering alternatives making space for on-demand platforms that reach critical mass based on the efficiency of crowds and the trust of communities.
The competing forces and evolving priorities have created a new world born on the back of business fragmentation feeding off the influence of social environments. Here technology breakthroughs are the norm and resource scarcity is a driver in the global shift of power. The collaborative economy is here to stay.
The Healthcare Opportunity and how LocumBase.com can serve you
Although 100 percent of healthcare providers surveyed in the 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends report plan to make significant progress in adopting cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the next three to five years, and 33 percent say they consider it a priority to train employees so they can work side by side with robots and AI, none have made significant progress in adopting these technologies.
One reason for this may be that many leaders of healthcare provider organizations anticipate that the scale and pace of change will overwhelm their workforce and compound current challenges, such as a short supply of nurses and a burned out physician population.
Strategically adopting technologies can improve work from a clinician’s perspective by reducing administrative tasks (e.g., documentation, insurance processing, scheduling, etc.), giving them more time with patients and extending their reach. A reduction in administrative tasks that currently consume a significant portion of a clinician’s workday will leave more time for patient interaction.
Telemedicine and the Internet of Things (IoT) will allow clinicians to extend their reach into other locations and situations where they were not able to make a difference before. Crowdsourcing can offer alternative talent models and additional resources. For example, think of the radiologist.
Diagnostic radiology is a prime area for change because it is plagued by burnout and turnover, is technological at its foundation, has a high volume of repetitive activities, and often does not require the radiologist to be at the same location as the patient.
Medical practices and hospitals can leverage automation and alternative talent models that re-envisions the proximity of where care should be delivered, has the power to resolve current pain points and develop a critical competitive advantage as an employer capable of attracting top talent, when they need it, at a rate that suits their pocket and contributes to profitability.
Live Your Best Locum Life
The way we live, play, love and work are changing, and medical professionals see it daily. Medical professional looking to embrace the revolution by making the most of their skilled hours and enjoy better quality of life adopt the locum lifestyle. The question remains, are South African medical professionals and medical practice owners ready to work smarter, earn better and enjoy more time doing the things they care about the most?
