Medical industries cover the study and research of the knowledge and the application of health, in the aim of improving health, curing disease and understanding how humans and animals function. (Wikipedia, Health Science, 2005)
The available evidence suggests that advances in medical technology have delivered benefits across a range of areas in the past decade. They appear to have contributed to improved health status, observed through increases in longevity and improved living standards. (Australian Government Productivity Commission 2005).
However, studies have also suggested that medical technology provides negative impacts on the efficiency of work quality towards medical professions.
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According to Fuchs, “most experts believe that ‘technology’ is the driving force behind the long-term rise of health care spending�? (1996. pg 13). Newhouse (1992), estimated that technological changes could account for 75 per cent of the increase in US health expenditure over several decades. Therefore, technology has been widely cited as a major driver of the growth in healthcare expenditure.
Computer-assisted Medical Decision making systems (CMD), are interactive computer systems that directly assist health professionals with the clinical decision-making task. Over the last century, large and rapid growth of medical knowledge, has led most health care professionals to find it increasingly difficult to use all the information which would be useful for making judgments in the medical field (Reggia and Tuhrim 1985).
A microchip implant is a grain-sized, radio frequent device, encased within silicon glass, which enables information storage, such as personal identification and medical records. Via the support of microchip implants, health professions would be able to access the patients’ medical records, regardless of their location (University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, 2005).
Presently, VeriChip, a microchip implant product developed by VeriChip Corporation, has successful implanted over one thousand microchips into Mexican patients. The procedure of implanting VeriChip lasts under twenty minutes and stitches are not required. Through scanning information from the chips, it allows for the provision of information such as blood type, allergies, prior treatments, etc (University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, 2005).
An online health service is a system that provides health care information and services through the internet. Online health services enable medical practitioners to gain information about individual patients, held by other health providers, through Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Additionally, they enable medical practitioners to gain access to second opinions for decision making, enable health consumers to know about their state of health, to gain access to real-time health advice and to gain a higher quality of individual care (National Health Information Management Advisory Council, 2001).
In many cases, the failure of technological development projects in the medical field is based on a lack of funding support. In order to conduct a medical technology project, a large number of budgetary considerations are required. However, technology development projects often appear to be high risk ventures inherent of low returns. Therefore, in most cases, technology development projects in the medical field would only been funded by government (Covvey, 1985 118 -121).
The privacy and security issue is a vital issue in modern society, not a mere data processing job. It concerns the availability of legally, and illegally, accessible personal information. According to Covvey, Craven and McAlister, “the security of medical records is often poor. There are many hospitals in which anyone wearing a white lab coat can walk into the medical records departments, demand any patient’s chart, and get it�? (1985, p 147).
Some of the background pertinent to the medical computing specialist cannot be obtained from a university computer science course or medical training. However, well-trained and experienced professionals in both the medical and computer science fields are often required to conduct a medical computing project. Therefore, many medical computing projects have failed based on the fact that the proponents were unable to find anyone who meets the requirements. (Covvey, 1985, p113 – 114)
Australian Government Productivity Commission. (2005). Impacts of Medical Technology: Productivity Commission Report, Melbourne. Retrieved from http://www.pc.gov.au/study/medicaltechnology/
Covvey, H. D., Carven, N. H., & McAlister, N. H. (1985). Concepts and Issues in Health Care Computing. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby. ISBN 0-8016-3196-3
Fuchs, R. (1996). “Economics, values and health care reform�?, The American Economic Review, 86(1), pp. 1–24.
Health Science. (2005). “Health Science�?. Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. retrieved October 2, 2002 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_science
National Health Information Management Advisory Council (Australia). (2001). Health online : a health information action plan for Australia (2nd ed.). Canberra: Dept. of Health and Aged Care. ISBN 0642735743
Newhouse, P. (1992) ‘Medical care costs: how much welfare loss?’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 6(3), pp. 3–21.
Reggia, J. A., & Tuhrim, S. (1985). Computer-Assisted Medical Decision Making. New York: Springer Verlag. ISBN 0-387-96104-6
University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (2005) "Implanted Medical-Records Chip Approved" 10(3), Health News, retrieved August 3, 2005, from http://healthlink.uhseast.com/healthnews/healthday/041013HD521778.htm
Ryuya Kina 16:29, 26 Oct 2005 (EST)
