Medical technology. It’s such a broad term. For many different people this term could actually mean many different things. To add to the confusion, medical technology and advances are increasing every day – making it nearly impossible to actually define what medical technology is. However, broadly speaking, you can gain a good understanding of how technology is changing the medical world.
What is Medical Technology?
Basically, medical technology refers to procedures, processes, and equipment used in the medical field. In many cases, medical technology refers to how medical care is delivered to the patient including surgical procedures and medication. This includes new procedures (such as joint replacements or heart surgery procedures), prescription drugs, and devices (such as CT Scanners and MRI machines). Medical technology can also refer to support systems, like electronic medical reports and ID tags.
How Does Medical Technology Help?
The truth is that not many areas of the health care field aren’t affected by medical technology. The medical field is one of the places where technology is given a lot of attention and money. The truth is, the amount of money invested into medical technology is actually a very good thing. Lives are saved and prolonged because of new technology.
For example, consider pre-term babies. In the 1950s, there wasn’t much that could be done for a baby born prematurely. By the grace of God, some babies born early would survive, but many babies often didn’t make it past birth. Now, with medical technology, pre-term babies actually have a shot at life. In the early 1990s, technology began to improve and machines such as ventilators, artificial pulmonary machines, and neonatal intensive care. All of these improvements made life easier, and even possible, for pre-term babies and their mothers. There were machines that could help babies to breath, get their lungs to develop, and even decrease mortality rates. It’s estimated that technology has decreased infant mortality by as much as one-third since the 1950s.
Clearly, medical technology is changing the way the medical world funcitnos.