En route to the world’s first Smart Hospital
Lately, it feels like 5G is the only thing we ever seem to be talking about, and for good reason. When we think about 5G, we think about the many possibilities of innovation that could revolutionize services across industries. The medical world is no exception. Based on rapid technological advancements and the growing demand for better healthcare services, Korean Telecoms giant, KT Corporation, along with Samsung Medical Centre (SMC) have partnered up, to create a 5G-based smart hospital to power new medical practices.
KT built a dedicated 5G network at the medical center, created service environments in operating rooms and also carried out test operations. Both parties intend to develop the world of smart patient care along with 5G, innovative medical practices, to improve the efficiency of hospitals.
“KT, in partnership with the Samsung Medical Center, is pioneering innovative medical services for the new 5G era,” said Park In-Young, Vice President of KT’s ICT Convergence Business Department. “We will continue to further refine 5G-powered medical technology by applying VR and AR technologies for real-time education.”
Both parties had been applying 5G on the premises as a means of creating improved medical services since they signed an agreement late last year. The services encompass digital diagnostic pathology, access to proton therapy information, teaching surgery, artificial intelligence-enable care for in patients and an autonomous robot for operating rooms.
The 5G-driven digital pathological analysis (conducted by SMC) is a brand new international example of using innovation using 5G technology methods and equipment for medical procedures. Tissues are taken from the patient during surgery and treated for analysis and then sent to pathologists in an adjacent room. This took around 20 minutes of walking back and forth, which made it hard for pathologists to conduct onsite analyses.
Fast and consistent access to pathological data – taken during surgery – is vital in defining and assessing the conditions of the patient and is provided by a 5G network with an extremely high speed and a very low latency rate. The network lets the Pathology Department gain access to materials which contain about 4GB of data each, thus ensuring improved medical services
This network also ensures fast access to CT and MRI data on proton therapy. The procedure required pathologists to walk about a km to the therapy center to download the files. Now, the 5G network enables them to access these files from any point in the medical center.
Surgery Education Away from the Operating Room
Surgical theatres and operating rooms are often too crowded with medical staff and equipment in order for medical students to observe closely. To resolve this issue and teach effectively, KT has produced a 5G-assisted education program with the Samsung Medical Center.
Robots for Operating Room Assistance; AI for In-Patient Care
A robot developed for the soul purpose of delivering within the operating room, is able to remove contaminated materials and medical waste for disposal. This autonomous robot can also bring in the necessary surgical supplies.
Robots for operating room assistance can reduce secondary and tertiary infection which happens through contact with medical waste and will save human resource costs in waste disposal. Furthermore, 5G enabled connectivity reduces disruption and latency in data exchange with robots and terminals.
Smart Care Giver is a creative AI supported system of in-patient-care. It provides AI services on KT’s GiGA Genie engine and enables patients to control their hospital room with voice commands and checks their medical condition with their permission. Consequently, medical staff are able to respond more efficiently and effectively to patient emergencies.
5G-Powered Smart Hospital
Collaboration between KT and the Samsung Medical Center will continue throughout the year, to further refine the services developed.