My first encounter with the word “Digitalise” was in reference to cardiology and emergency medicine as a medical student. It was a norm to “digitalise” a patient with failing heart, that essentially meant administering the dose of drug with “Digitalis” as active pharmacological ingredient.
Digitalisation : To administer digitalis in a dosage sufficient to achieve the maximum therapeutic effect without producing toxic symptoms.
Over last 20 years the word Digitization has taken over the world by storm and the healthcare ecosystem finds it extremely fashionable to be in the digital mode ! From documents to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) , Electronic Health Records (EHR) , to Computer systems taking over the routine jobs to appointments delivering through mobile apps. Digitization is the the buzz word in clinical practice now from patient records , labs to radiology. Hard copies of records would soon be a distant past.
The words Digitization , Digitalization and Digitalisation are now used routinely and sometimes as synonyms , but there sure is a difference !
Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital format. In this format, data is organized into discrete units of data (called bits) that can be separately addressed (usually in multiple-bit groups called bytes). This is the binary data that computers and many devices with computing capacity can process.
Digitalization is the integration of digital technologies into everyday life by digitization of everything that can be digitized. It is the integration of digital technologies into everyday life. It also refers to the process of making digital everything that can be digitized and the process of converting information into digital format.
While digitalisation helps in recovery of failing heart of a patient, Digitization ( Digitalization) of Healthcare is helping the healthcare system.
In conclusion , one can claim and hope that the failing heart of healthcare delivery system is being “digitalised” by digitization and Digitalization , helping it recover and rejuvenate through Digital Health !
Clinical Scientist 