The advancement in technology is seen in almost all the fields of life, economics, society, education, and even in the medicine and healthcare departments. The new technology in the medical department has unforeseen, inadvertent, or unexpected impacts on people or on social organizations.
Though these effects are the consequences of the extensive use of technology, most of them can be expected while the technology is being industrialized. A technique for methodically recognizing and assessing these influences is technology valuation. This kind of valuation, built while technology is being advanced, could deliver valuable knowledge for decision-making regarding examination and progress and in designing technology’s ultimate outline. Since a limited number of medical technologies have been officially evaluated and, in the course of medical technology, advancement is not assumed well, one must be careful in the extensive use of technology valuation. However, sufficient is now recognized to authorize the devising of methods that could be utilized in initial endeavors at medical technology valuation.
The field of medical technology is wide-ranging, where innovations and advancements play a critical part in the provision of healthcare. The evolution of these technologies is occurring at an astonishing frequency, with new creations and improvement of the existing ones. JC Scott says, “Innovation and advancement in medical technology are the backbone of modern medicine and have led to life-changing treatments and cures for patients around the globe.” It also changes the technique with which knowledge regarding healthcare is retrieved and conversed. Speaking of technology does not always mean advanced machinery but also the manner in which things are observed, understood, and handled.
Some of the most notable impacts technology has made in the medical field outweigh the impact of improved investigative and diagnostic techniques and therapeutic and surgical measures on theoretical diagnostics. Medical technology has helped reduce the degree of indisposition and death from remedial faults by giving electronic instructions for medicines that permit physicians to distinguish whether there are contacts between drugs or drugs to food. A number of these tools also deliver knowledge on physician outlining and illness control by checking and evaluating the maintenance brought to every patient. Due to these medical advancements, everything has transformed, from the way of living our lives and the manner we perceive things and perform to the way we interrelate with others and communicate. Human behavior has changed a lot. These social changes are rapidly increasing due to the invasion of technological advancements in all aspects of life.
In the healthcare and medicine industry, the web has dynamically subsidized the progression of technology by giving tens of thousands of animations and abstracts at conferences. It has enabled people to explore and investigate their medical matters by seeing the reasons and indications of the disease, cures, and possible medications. These innovative prospects have empowered people to become practical in the process of decision-making concerning their own well-being. Also, healthcare facilities are refining the value and management of care provided by means of social media by forming interactions with patients, responding to queries regarding practices, initiating communal awareness operations, and executing public outreach.
Technology has greatly influenced information, which has had a great and important influence on the healthcare industry. For example, electronic medical records are regularly used by nurses and doctors, telehealth facilities, and portable machinery such as smartphones and tablets to record the medical history of the patients or evaluate the accurate cure to be administered. Certain medical technologies like telemedicine or telecommunications permit specialists-to-specialists and patients-to-doctors communications to be miles away without having to depart from their physical position and deliver immediate obtainment of information regarding health without requiring admittance to a more equipped hospital. These developments and innovations in the medical industry are continually providing people with new and innovative methods to provide quality care to patients and take part in the improvement of healthcare worldwide.
Some other examples of how medical technology has impacted our society are the new information on genetics. It has transformed our perception of the threat of disease and sickness, kinship, and the capability of intervening in natural processes in order to alter physical characteristics. The interior parts of the body are seen through novel techniques like the MRI for brain imaging, ultrasounds, and checking chemical changes inside the body like the biome sensors. These impact the manner in which we categorize and describe usual functions and behavior. Tissue engineering enables the growth of cells into whole tissues, and the invention of new methods of surgeries with the help of telemedicine increasingly alters the manner in which therapies are conducted and medicine is practiced.
Medicinal technologies are affecting our community both in a positive way and a negative way. People find it easier to get rid of even deathly illnesses in a matter of days, but they have also exploited themselves through the hands of technology. People’s inclination towards plastic surgery, even if they have no such problem, is being observed nowadays. Other than this, people have started relying on medicines and operations, which must only be made use of in critical situations as many have their side effects as well. In the process of eradication, one problem becomes the cause of another. Thus, though these developments and advancements in healthcare and medicinal technology are great benefits and advantages, they must be handled and used with care.
End Notes
- Medical Technology. (2011, December 23). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from http://www.healthcarebusinesstech.com/medical-technology/
- Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society. (n.d.). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://med.stanford.edu/bioethics/research/programs/science_and_society.html
- The Impact of Technology on Healthcare. (2016, May 25). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.aimseducation.edu/blog/the-impact-of-technology-on-healthcare/
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