Weaving a "time-traveling" Internet of Things for our white coats

"Time is life", no moment is more proof of this than during the first aid process.

If you run, break through the resistance of time and space and run: every second counts, within reach, one step ahead...

If we shorten the rescue time and improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment, the fate of some people may change.

Nowadays, with a computer and a set of emergency medical solutions, experts can "run" online, making the "unimaginable" things "within reach."

With the increasingly mature application of technologies such as mobile Internet, Internet of Things, and 5G in the medical field, smart medical service projects such as telemedicine and AI medical imaging are also constantly expanding.

In the science documentary series "A Tribute to Game Changers in the New Era of IoT," jointly produced by Intel and Science/AAAS, the third episode "Speed" focuses on the medical field. Through real stories of representative companies, it shows the penetration and integration of the Internet of Things and the changes it has brought to China's medical and health fields.

(Click to read the original text and watch the video)

What is the purpose of ICU?

Save the patients, race against time to save the patients.

In the past, an ambulance speeding on the highway in the dark was like a solitary boat - its connection with the outside world was extremely weak, and the medical staff's rescue capabilities and equipment on board were also very limited.

In "Speed", a patient with type I dissecting aneurysm is being taken to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University (hereinafter referred to as: Zhejiang University First Hospital) by ambulance.

Zhejiang University First Hospital applied the Ruizhilian emergency solution provided by Mindray Medical.

In this 5G smart ambulance, Ruizhilian provides a triage solution to help medical staff improve triage - all measurements are completed within 1 minute, and automatic scoring is performed through EWS to accurately and quickly identify critically ill patients, and the data is automatically sent to the hospital.

At the same time, in Zhejiang University First Hospital, doctors in the critical care unit could already see all the information about the patient's vital signs on the big screen and began remote guidance.

Cai Hongliu, director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine and ICU at Zhejiang University, said: "What is ICU? It means that we medical staff need to 'see you'. I will keep watching over you, hoping to get a chance to be treated.

Today, “non-stop care” has become a reality thanks to the rapid development of the Internet of Things.

Song Jiqiang, director of Intel China Research Institute, talked about the role of the Internet of Things in the medical industry and said: "For the medical industry, the Internet of Things plays a connecting role. Medical resources in different regions, time and space can be integrated through the Internet of Things.

Before the Internet of Things, we had to rely on some new terminals and embedded devices to collect some data, and these data had no way to enter the backend system directly. When we have the Internet of Things, it means that many of our devices can directly access the Internet, and even the front-end devices have certain data processing capabilities. "

The medical device IoT platform that appeared in “Speed” is the Mindray Medical Intelligent Connect solution built based on Intel technology. It breaks the data “barriers” between devices, organically integrates discrete data into the smart center monitoring system, and integrates it into the hospital information system.

This is especially important for the ICU, which is the last line of defense for patients. In fact, the patient's vital signs data is related to "life and death". Medical staff need to quickly, comprehensively and accurately grasp the patient's bedside data. The intensive care unit of the Zhijiang Campus of Zhejiang University First Hospital has achieved the goal of keeping patients online at all times and medical care work "online" at all times through such a preliminary established intelligent monitoring system (Ruizhilian Critical Care Solution).

In addition to breaking through the boundaries of time, we must also break through the barriers of space.

In "Speed", at Shenzhen Shekou People's Hospital, as the ultrasound probe moved across the patient's neck and abdomen, high-definition dynamic ultrasound images appeared on the screen of the ultrasound doctor at Shenzhen People's Hospital with almost zero delay.

There is also an uneven regional distribution of high-quality ultrasound physician resources: they are sufficient in large hospitals but relatively scarce in grassroots community hospitals.

Relying on Intel's algorithm advantages and software and hardware capabilities, the Ruiying Cloud++ platform developed by Mindray uses cloud interconnection to achieve remote assisted medical consultation: it supports connecting to ultrasound machines and uploading real-time ultrasound images to the cloud for end-to-end shared viewing.

Ultrasound is a very important part of imaging examination. The future development of smart ultrasound requires smarter hardware equipment and smarter Internet applications.

Intel and its ecosystem partners start from the extremely rich data application scenarios in the medical industry, covering all aspects of data collection, storage and processing, analysis and utilization, and providing cloud-to-end solutions. Intel continues to implement innovative digital and intelligent applications and technology empowerment to stimulate the potential of intelligent computing, help balance medical resources, and drive smart healthcare.

The medical field in the new era is always looking for technological innovation and finding points of integration with emerging technologies.

In many departments, imaging is the core basis for diagnosis. However, in China, the imaging diagnosis capabilities of primary medical institutions are relatively weak, while the number of imaging equipment is increasing year by year.

Huiyi Huiying is one of the earliest established companies in China's medical artificial intelligence industry, dedicated to research in the field of medical imaging AI.

Huiyi Huiying provides medical institutions with a full-cycle, high-performance artificial intelligence medical imaging solution through products such as the Dr. Turing AI platform. This solution introduces the second-generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor and is paired with the OpenVINO™ toolkit, which can achieve the effect of "1+1>2" in medical imaging analysis scenarios.

In Shandong Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, a cross-device interconnected medical imaging cloud platform has been put into use. Xie Haizhu, director of the hospital's imaging department, said: "Doctors in our department have to look at tens of thousands of images every day to diagnose diseases. If more and better products can be used in clinical practice, it can save us a lot of time and allow our doctors to have more time to do more meaningful things."

Based on the computing power support of Intel processors and combined with artificial intelligence neural network models, this solution can quickly process image CT research reports.

Song Jiqiang of Intel said: "As an underlying technology provider of information technology, Intel usually provides services for the entire information technology through chips, sensor technology, communication technology, and a combination of computing software and hardware.

Medical informatics or clinical informatics does not mean replacing humans with computers, but using computers as a supplement to physicians or clinicians so that they can be more effective than they could be working alone.”

Intel has been working with partners to launch comprehensive medical solutions from device to cloud, covering medical imaging, diagnostic and monitoring equipment, pathological analysis and other fields, playing the role of the central brain. By providing the OpenVINO™ artificial intelligence development kit, Intel provides partners in the medical industry with a comprehensive artificial intelligence product portfolio to effectively improve doctor efficiency and make wise decisions.

Intel itself has also launched a number of medical projects, such as gesture interaction technology based on millimeter-wave radar. For example, in the operating room or ward, doctors can control various devices directly with gestures.

We are now in the post-epidemic era. Where will the technological and medical breakthroughs come from? How will the future health management model be different?

The medical pioneers in "Speed" will continue to explore the answers. Click to read the original text and watch the video together~