Digitalization In Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery From Status Quo To Vision

Background With the Digital Care Act (DVG) and the Patient Data Protection Act (PDSG) laws were passed to strengthen digitally supported healthcare. Digitalization claims to be able to strengthen effectiveness and efficiency in the sense of healthcare providers and patients; however, digitalization also requires restructuring processes and responsibilities, investing in technology and ensuring digital skills. Objective What opportunities and risks result from digitalization from the perspective of the players in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery and what is the status quo in international comparison? Material and methods Expert interviews (n= 8) were applied as a qualitative survey instrument and a structured literature analysis was carried out. Results Digitalization helps to optimize treatment (n= 7), whereby digital imaging is an appreciated instrument (n= 8) in oral and maxillofacial surgery; however, there is a lack of offers for the acquisition of digital skills (n= 6) and, in addition, the requirements of data protection (n= 4) are viewed critically. Conclusion Especially at the beginning, digitalization requires high investments in terms of time and money. In addition, new skills are required to ensure sovereignty in handling digital products. It is intended to subsequently verify the qualitative results by means of a quantitative analysis.