Health technologies have become an integral part of the medical industry, and these technologies are continually improved upon. The primary goal of health technology is to assist physicians in providing the optimum amount of care to the patients they service. With technology, a doctor may manage his office more effectively, leaving more time to devote to patients. Technological instruments assist the doctor in delivering an accurate diagnosis of a patient’s medical problems. Other machines help doctors monitor their patients and may increase the length and quality of a patient’s life.
It takes a lot of man hours to maintain and keep track of patient records in a doctor’s office, clinic, or a hospital. For this reason, electronic medical records have become a significant cost saving in health technology. A physician can look up a patient’s medical history in an instant and determine past medical problems or allergic reactions to drugs. The electronic records contain data fields for future appointments and follow-up calls. They also assist the billing departments in assessing the fee for various treatments and payment schedules.
Diagnostic health technology helps medical professionals accurately test for diseases and scan for health problems. Diagnostic tests can identify current and future health concerns, and they take a lot of the guess work out of identifying these problems. Ultrasound machines and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scanners are some examples of hardware used in diagnosing patients. There are universal test kits for communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases such as AIDS, flu viruses, diabetes, or heart disease.
Another important area of health technology is medical equipment. These machines are used to assess a patient’s medical condition and determine the causes for those problems. Therapeutic equipment, such as infusion pumps and lasers, help the medical personnel in treating the patient’s condition. Life support machines are necessary pieces of medical equipment in hospitals and keep patients in critical condition alive longer. Medical monitors help nurses and doctors supervise a patient’s vital signs, blood pressure, and other organ functions.
The area of health technology also includes transplants and medical devices. These technologies keep a patient alive after all other alternatives are exhausted. Transplant technologies take the tissues and organs from one individual and let surgeons transfer them to another. Medical devices may replace other vital organs such as the heart. A common example of a medical device is the heart pacemaker.