Technology in Medicine - Emerging Trends

One of the paradoxes of increasingly powerful computer-based technologies is the declining cost and a hold out in hopes of reducing healthcare costs in future. An example of a up and coming developing new technology is the Smart Intensive Care Unit .

In an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) , heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow and other measurements are carried out routinely. The analysis of these parameters is quite time consuming for the puposes of analysis and continuing therapy. In an ICU setting, there could be wide variations of the patient's vital signs and it is critical for the nurse or doctor to be alerted quickly for deterioration of the patient's condition.

The relatively new introduction is the " Smart ICU" which contains a neural network operating on " fuzzy logic" - in simple terms this is a method to represent mathematically vague and imprecise human measures such as " almost", " very" and " quite far away" which cannot traditionally be designed in digital systems, which operate on "on-off" conditions.

It will be a major challenge for healthcare providers to keep abreast of these emerging new technologies and methods, training in their use, and budgeting for their acquisition.

Electronic Medical Records

In the June 24, 2008 issue of The New York Times, the editorial "Our Pen-and-Paper Doctors" bemoans the snails pace at which American doctors are converting to modern technologies, especially when compared to physicians from other countries. It goes on to say that without this conversion, the benefits of healthcare reform will become irrelevant.

Money, not enough of it, of course, is always to blame. But inertia is also at work here. For this country to improve the delivery of healthcare and reduce the financial burden of paying for it, not only must the institutional barriers that currently exist be broken down, but the healthcare paradigm must change to one of preventive care rather than curative care. Today, with the costs of drugs and technology so high, it often seems that profits drives the healthcare system. Since so much of healthcare is now in the hands of corporate structures [providers, suppliers, drug companies and insurers], whose only responsibility is to deliver quarterly profits to shareholders, the health of the nation is at risk. Yes, we can develop the greatest drugs and the most advanced research tools and technologies. But to really make a difference in the health of the nation, we must get back to the basics and change bad habits and live healthier lifestyles.

Institutional change is always hard. But until our country makes the committment to change the way we do things, which will require sacrifices from all of us, things will not improve. There are too many vested interests in staying the course.