Technology Assessment: ”Nanobots in Blood”

Running Head: TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT 1

TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT 5

Technology assessment
Name
Institution
Professor
Course
Date

”Nanobots in blood” is one of the new technological requirements that I think would be effective to employ in the industry of healthcare (Thielst, 2007). These are tiny robots which need to be designed in a way such that they will be capable of fighting and destroying any bacteria in our bodies. This will be used in replacing white blood cells found in the blood. This technological advancement however is far from being realized. These “small robots” will be fitted with their own mechanisms of sensing a pathogen or bacteria. In addition to this, they will have means of propulsion which will help in moving them from one place to another. They will have power of more than 1000 times of the power possessed by the normal white blood cells. They will in addition be fitted in a way such that no harm will be caused to the body of the person being treated (Thielst, 2007).
“Mind transfer and head transplants” is another important technological advancement that needs to be implemented in the field of healthcare. For quite long, people have been aspiring to live forever. With such a technological advancement, the dream may at last become true. With this, the brain of a human will be preserved or saved in another brain or on a computer. Google is the company with high chances of venturing in this new technological advancement. People have hope in that the CEO may concentrate on this project with an intention of extending his life and that of other people around him. Another important technological advancement that needs to be implemented is holographic input of data. Using this method can help reduce diseases that are spread when a physician touches input devices after examining a patient. Through this, a temporary floating screen will be created which will be then used in inputting data (Thielst, 2007).
One example of the basic technologies underlying healthcare information systems is in electronic health care record. This is one of the central components in the information technology infrastructure. An electronic medical record or an EHR is a personal, digital and official health record which is shared among many agencies and providers of health care. Personal health record is another information systems key element (Pai & Huang, 2011). This is a health record which is maintained by the person whose data is recorded in it. From 2009 when the HITECH Act was put in place, implementations of these systems have been increasing at a very fast rate. VNAs or vendor neutral archives and picture PACs or picture archiving and communication systems are other examples of technology advancements that have been incorporated in healthcare information systems. These are helpful in as they support management as well as storage of patients’ medical images. For the last ten years, departments of radiology have been the main field dealing with the management and also storage of patient’s images.
In healthcare information systems, there is a pressing need to incorporate new innovations. The fact that the number of patients and diseases are increasing is the main reason as to why new technological advancements need to be incorporated. Such changes will make it easy for physicians to store and also manage data (Thielst, 2007). Improvement in the quality and efficiency of healthcare systems is very important as it will help healthcare institutions to effectively handle the increasing number of patients. Many healthcare centers today are working hard in order to replace the EMR systems with other improved transaction systems.
In order to improve the way in which patients’ care is administered in the healthcare institutions, new technological advancements in the field of healthcare have to be put in place. An environment which is fully connected will be realized soon in the field of healthcare. Through integration of data and transaction information, this dream will come to reality within a short period of time. Sharing the information of a patient is very useful as it helps confirm diagnostic and symptom information, makes sure that the treatments that have been prescribed are achieving the effects that were desired, and also gives a guarantee of no preventable interactions. In the case of the healthcare center within my area, improvements in information systems are very critical (Pai & Huang, 2011). There is a growing need to install wearable technology as it will have critical roles to play in the information systems of the near future. This will be through installation of devices that are capable of reading and interpreting data captured by the devices worn by people or applications installed in our smart phones. These devices and apps are used for activities such as tracking of sleep patterns and monitoring of the pulse rate. This helps ensure that people have managed their health in a better way. They are important in that they help capture data and information that cannot be tracked by the memory of a person (Herndon et al, 2007). A doctor will be able to follow the progress of a patient from the time he/she lastly visited the hospital. Integration of data streams is also helpful as it will make it easy for a physician to monitor, access and also update patient’s information. Such integration will also take into account security of information systems thus ensuring that the information collected has remained intact for the required period of time. Incorporation of automated alerts will also play important role in the future of healthcare information systems. For this to be effective in terms of functioning, a certain condition needs to be tracked. The physician will hence be able to receive an alert whenever the condition being tracked worsens (Pai & Huang, 2011).
In my community, senior healthcare leadership need to take the requirements stated above into consideration. Implementing the changes stated above will improve the effectiveness with which people receive care. The health of the whole community at large will as well become improved. Incorporation of these changes will help improve the efficiency with which very large data is managed. It will in addition help improve the health of the population. This is the case because occurrence of a disease will be detected at it earlier stages (Herndon et al, 2007). Curative as well as preventive measures will hence be taken in order to do away with an outbreak or prevent further spread of the disease. With these systems, it will be easy for physician to capture patients’ data. Sharing of such data among healthcare researchers will help in the process of trying to come up with new medical drugs and therapies. Incorporation of technology in healthcare will help reduce the costs incurred in giving out treatment. Patients will no longer be required to visit healthcare centers since the systems will are capable of supporting collecting and sending of patient’s data.

References
Herndon, J. H., Hwang, R., & Bozic, K. H. (2007). Healthcare technology and technology assessment. European Spine Journal, 16(8), 1293-1302.
Pai, F. Y., & Huang, K. I. (2011). Applying the technology acceptance model to the introduction of healthcare information systems. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 78(4), 650-660.
Thielst, C. B. (2007). The future of healthcare technology. Journal of Healthcare Management, 52(1), 7.