Disruptive Digital Technologies Will Change Blood Donation

Disruptive digital technologies could help in many ways in optimizing the process of blood donation. It could aid the recruitment of new blood donors, keep the returning donors motivated on the long run, or simplify and shorten the process of blood donation through robots or medical drones. Tissue engineers are even experimenting with artificial blood, so we might bypass blood donation in the future altogether. Bloody business If you cut your finger during chopping cabbage, you bleed. If you trip over a hole and fall, you bleed. This deep red fluid flowing in our veins occupies a central place in our organism – and thus naturally in healthcare. No wonder it moved the imagination of artists and writers as well, and such legends as the one about Count Dracula took wing. Blood has the capacity to act as a litmus paper showing you if there are problems in your body. Practitioners in medicine knew this wisdom even before centuries. Analysing blood has been crucial in the past when assessing someone’s health or making a diagnosis. Even before they had any idea about blood groups or the scale of information which might be extracted from one drop of blood. The practice of bloodletting was central in healthcare until the late 19th century. It was first performed in ancient Egypt and spread to Greece as well as the Roman Empire. Medical professionals back then believed that letting out “bad blood” will stimulate the body to produce fresh and healthy blood as well as it will cau...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Biotechnology Future of Medicine Healthcare Design blood blood donation digital health GC1 Innovation medical drones social media tissue engineering Source Type: blogs