Impacts of Medical Technology (Essay Sample)

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Impacts of medical technology
Technology can be seen as an activity that changes or forms a culture. Technology has nowadays affected every single aspect of the modern society. The medical field has not been left behind in technology as modern treatments, diagnostic and, information processing and transfer procedures are based on technology. Nowadays, almost all hospitals in the USA have embraced the use of medical technology in delivering health care services to the society. Technological innovations in the medical industry have continually provided medical care providers with new ways of enhancing the quality of care given to their patients and, therefore, improving the state of global healthcare. The integration of technology in areas like surgery, disease prevention, and medical telecommunications has helped to improve medical industry worldwide. Like any other technological advancement, medical technology has both positive and negative impacts on the society. This paper will discuss medical technology and its impacts on the society.
Among the recent advancements in medical technology is the use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR). EMR refers to a systematic collection of population and patient health information and storing it in digital format. EMRs may include a wide range of data including medical history, demographics, billing information, personal statistics like weight and age, medication and allergies, immunization status, radiology images, and laboratory results. Electronic health records have helped in accurately capturing and storage of patient’s data across time. It has reduced the cases of data replication because there is only one file that can be modified. EMR has also solved the risk of losing patients’ information and paperwork (Miller, Robert, & Ida Sim, 118).. EMRs have also made it possible for researchers to carry out population-based studies using these records. Unlike paperwork, EMR may help in standardization of terminology, forms and data input. The use of EMRs has helped in improving the overall quality of health care delivery.
Advancements in medical technology have made it possible to apply for nuclear medicine in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Using various methods of imaging, it is now possible for physicians and technicians to examine patient's anatomy without the involvement of invasive procedures to form a diagnosis. The rapid growth in imaging technology has raised the demand for radiologists and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technologists and, therefore, creating job opportunities. Through the use of Ultrasound technology and amniocentesis, it has now become possible for pregnant women to know the sex of their unborn babies and also know about any genetic abnormalities in the unborn babies. This has helped women to make the decision on whether to conduct an abortion in case the abnormalities in the unborn baby are not compatible with life.
Through the use of modern instruments and technology, it has now become possible for surgeons to perform less invasive surgeries within the disciplines of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. Unlike the conventional heart surgery procedures that were invasive and that required patients to be placed in a heart-lung machine, modern techniques such as coronary artery by-pass grafting are less invasive and don't need the use of a heart-lung machine. The incision made when using conventional surgery is about 10-12 inches while that made when using modern surgical techniques is about 1-2 inches. The use of non-invasive surgical techniques has helped in reducing the patient’s length of stay in the hospital from the typical ten days to 2 days (Mayo Clinic, par 4). The use of smaller incision and avoidance of the use of lung-heart machine has reduced the patient’s recovery period from the typical eight weeks of conventional surgery to 2 weeks. Smaller incisions and avoidance of heart-lung machine have also alleviated the risk of infection and blood trauma respectively. By eliminating the need for blood transfusion, the method can be used to treat even people whose faith and beliefs doesn’t allow them to accept blood products. The cost of less invasive cardiac surgery is approximately 25% less than that of conventional surgery (Mayo Clinic, par 5).
Telemedicine is another product of technological advancement in the field of medicine. Telemedicine includes the use of information technologies and telecommunications to provide health care services at a distance. Telemedicine includes telenursing, teleneuropsychology, telepharmacy, telepsychiatry, telecardiology among others. This has made it possible for patients to communicate with their physicians with both fidelity and convenience. Telemedicine has helped patients who live in isolated regions to receive medical care without having to travel long distances (Bloomfield, Eric, 421). It has also helped to reduce the transmission of diseases and parasites between patients and physicians. It has promoted health education by making it possible for physicians to seek expert advice in their fields and also share the best care easily. Telemedicine is cost effective regarding saving travel expenses for homebound patients and health care workers when they need advice from experts in a particular field. The federal law requires all people conducting video conferencing to sign a Business Associate Agreement indicating that they are Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) trained.
Modern medicine has embraced the use gene therapy in treatment genetic disorders that were previously not treatable. Gene therapy involves therapeutic delivery of polymers of nucleic acids into patient’s cells to treat genetically inherited disorders (Rimoin, David, Pyerit, & Korf, 1584). Glybera became the first genetic-based treatment to be approved in US and other European states after it was endorsed by the European Commission in 2012. Glybera is the market name for alipogene tiparvovec that is a gene therapy treatment that is used to correct lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPD), a rare inherited condition that causes pancreatitis. Lipoprotein Gene therapy helps in the breakdown of fats in the body and thus preventing it from rising to toxic levels (Ylä-Herttuala, Seppo, 1831). Several other gene therapies are being researched on to treat other disorders such as sickle cell anemia, Parkinson disease, hemophilia, cancer, inherited blindness among others.
The integration of telehealth and medical equipment technology has resulted into robotic surgeries in which physicians doesn’t need to be in the operating room during the surgical event. Surgeons can operate from the home base while the patient undergoes surgery in a clinic or hospital near their homes thus eliminating the stress and hassles related to health travel. In some robotic procedures, the surgeon remains in the operating room operating robotic surgical devices (Mayo Clinic, par8). Robotic surgeries have helped to reduce the complications that are associated with invasive surgical procedures, thus reducing the size of post surgery scars and the patient’s recovery period (Mayo Clinic, par 5).
Like any other technology, medical technology has some negative impacts. Use of gamma rays in the treatment of brain tumors may result in brain damage. People with pacemakers may not be diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because it can interrupt the function of the pacemaker. This has made it impossible for patients with pacemakers to be diagnosed using MRI (US national library of medicine, par 9). Electronic health records have also raised issues concerning the privacy of patient's information (Jha, Ashish K., et al., 1633). Unlike the use paperwork where patients' files are located in a central place, EMR allows patient information to be stored in a database where the control over who has access to patient information is uncertain. Possible leakage of information from EMR database is a threat to patients’ privacy. The sharing of information using EMR has proved to be difficult because of lack of standardized indexing, terminology and system architecture (Miller, Robert, & Ida Sim, 118). To be able to share EMRs, there must be a standard language and health identifiers.
The use of telemedicine has resulted into breakdown o the relationship between patients and their doctors. Telemedicine has also broken down the relationships between health care professionals. For instance, a highly skilled physician in the rural area may feel his/her autonomy threatened by sharing information with another physician. The use telemedicine has raised issues concerning the quality of health information that can be delivered through media. When using telemedicine, it is not easy to start treatment immediately, and this may result into the worsening of the patient's condition. Also, legal regulations for some telemedicine practices are unclear, making it difficult for patients to claim reimbursement from insurers (Choi, Young B., et al., 45).
The cost of purchasing and installing modern technology is usually prohibitive making it difficult for some hospitals and clinics to afford (Bolin, Kristian, & Kaestner, 153). The use of some modern medical technology has faced resistance from the society as they conflict with the norms of the society. For example, the use of amniocentesis to determine genetic abnormalities of the unborn child has faced resistance from some religious and cultural societies (Getz, Linn, 1603). Gene therapy may be misused to modify human capabilities resulting in alteration of normal human life. The use of gene therapy can also result in permanent change in human genetic pool. Viruses have been used as the major vector in gene therapy, and this may resul...