Medical technology in 2023 concept - Healthcare professional accessing digital healthcare data.

Medical Technology in 2023: What to Expect in Terms of Health Care

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Medical technology in 2023 concept - Healthcare professional accessing digital healthcare data.

Medical technology has come a long way since the early days of healthcare. From improved diagnostics and treatments to new ways of managing chronic conditions, medical technology is transforming healthcare delivery and patients’ lives worldwide. In 2023, we expect to see even more significant impacts on patient care due to medical technology advancements. Let’s look at what to expect from medical technology in 2023 and how it will impact patient care.

The Latest Advances in Medical Technology

Medical technology is rapidly advancing in the 21st century, and 2023 is no different. One of the most exciting advances in medical technology is the development of artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostics and medical imaging. AI can help analyze medical images to detect abnormalities in the human body. This, in turn, will help healthcare professionals diagnose diseases more quickly and accurately. 

Additionally, genomics and gene editing advances enable researchers to develop treatments tailored to the individual’s genetic makeup. Finally, personalized medicine and precision health make it possible to tailor treatments to each patient’s specific needs, improving care and outcomes. These developments are revolutionizing how healthcare is delivered and will continue to improve patient care, wellness, and the healthcare industry in 2023 and beyond.

unrecognizable african american scientist studying anatomy with tablet

The Impact of These Advances on Patient Care

Medical technology has come a long way in the last few years. We expect to see even more advancements in 2023, which will significantly impact patient care. Some of these advances will include improved diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities, more effective treatments, and improved monitoring capabilities that allow healthcare providers to track a patient’s health from afar.

These advances will provide better treatment and care for patients. They will also lead to improved overall wellness. Patients will benefit from better diagnoses, treatments, and closer monitoring to ensure they get the best possible care.

woman practicing yoga

The Impact of These Advances on Wellness

In 2023, medical technology’s advances will significantly impact wellness. For example, with the development of new technologies such as AI and 3D printing, patients are increasingly able to access personalized treatments that help them manage their condition more effectively. This has helped to improve outcomes and increase levels of well-being. Furthermore, these technologies have made it easier for health professionals to identify areas of concern and intervene quickly and effectively to prevent further problems. All in all, the advances in medical technology will be incredibly beneficial for individual wellness.

people men technology room

The Impact of These Advances on the Healthcare Industry

The advances in medical technology are poised to impact the healthcare industry as a whole significantly. These advancements will reduce costs, improve patient outcomes, and provide more efficient healthcare services. This will ultimately result in better access to care for patients, improved patient satisfaction, and excellent financial stability for healthcare providers. Furthermore, these advances will positively impact society’s overall wellness by providing better treatments, diagnostic tools, and preventive care. These elements will unite to create a healthier, more prosperous society.

Key Takeaways

Advances in medical technology in 2023 are bringing changes to the healthcare industry that are positively affecting patient care, wellness, and the entire healthcare industry. Patients can expect improved diagnoses, better treatments, and more preventive care. Wellness is being promoted through increased access to health services, personalized care plans, and innovative technologies.

For the healthcare industry, advances in medical technology will lead to higher quality care and improved efficiency. Follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog for the most up-to-date information on healthcare. Enroll in a course offered by Avidity Medical Design Academy to learn more about a variety of healthcare subjects. Visit Avidity Medical Scentations to purchase scented candles and soaps with a healthcare theme.

Robots in Healthcare: How Robots are Helping Patients in the Field of Healthcare

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A man doing physical therapy by using an exoskeleton to walk on a treadmill

If you are interested in a career in the healthcare industry and have researched a bit about its future, you must have come across the use of robots in healthcare. These robots offer many possibilities that are beneficial to you as a healthcare worker as well as your patients. Robots can improve patient outcomes, while providing much needed help, but never replacing, healthcare professionals who constantly strive to optimize patient care. With this in mind, let’s take a look at how robots are helping to improve patient outcomes in the healthcare industry.

Robots in Action: From High Precision Surgery to Delivery of Medical Supplies

Healthcare robots are currently used primarily in surgical procedures and prosthetics. Robots are also used in other areas of healthcare, such as dispensing medication, disinfecting rooms, and delivering medical supplies, for example.

How Robots are Being Used in Healthcare

There are several different types of robots currently in use in the healthcare industry. If you are a patient, you might have encountered some of these robots in doctors offices or hospitals. The types of robots include:

  1. Surgical-assistance robots. These robots are used in high precision surgeries and minimally-invasive surgeries, such as chemical ablation and radiofrequency ablation. One example of a surgical-assistance robot can be found in the da Vinci Surgical System.
  2. Mobile robots are used in transporting patients, moving heavy loads, cleaning, and disinfection of rooms. A good example a mobile robot is the TUG autonomous mobile delivery robot, which is used to carry heavy machinery.
  3. Service robots track medical supplies, quickly set up rooms, and perform other general logistical tasks related to healthcare.
  4. Social robots are robotic care assistants. Physicians can use these robots to interact directly with patients if necessary due to time constraints. These robots can also reduce time-consuming and expensive home visits.
  5. Exoskeletons help with surgical procedures and assist in recovery. An example is the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) exoskeleton that helps victims of stroke learn to walk again, and helps patients during the process of rehabilitation.

The Robot-Healthcare Worker Symbiosis

The important thing to remember is that, while there are fears that robots in healthcare might replace human staff, robots will never replace humans, and never replace doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Robots are only designed to help, not to replace, workers in healthcare. Also, from a financial standpoint, robots are currently expensive pieces of machinery, so it would not be cost-effective to replace all human workers in a health facility with robots. They also need to be programmed by humans, set up by humans, and monitored by humans, especially in relation to the test results that they produce and how they function in the clinical setting. If and when robots fail, the practical skills, creativity, and human decision-making skills must take over, in the form of the healthcare professional. Most importantly, patients will always require the human touch, when engaging with healthcare professionals, as well as a caring and sympathetic human, with a compassionate listening ear when describing medical issues and addressing medical concerns.

Robots in Healthcare and the Demand for Human Input

The programming, maintenance, monitoring of performance, and repair of robots in healthcare settings provides additional job opportunities for medical technicians. Medical technicians must program the robots, and ensure that they are performing correctly. As a result, healthcare workers will always be in demand to provide both the medical school knowledge and the hands-on medical experience needed to accurately monitor and interpret the behavior of robots, in addition to completing the tasks that are required of human beings in the healthcare environment. This creates new job opportunities for individuals who are in the medical field, and those who are training for future positions in the medical field.

How Healthcare Robots Help You and Your Patients

The use of robots in healthcare settings can enhance your career experience if you work in the medical field, and as stated previously, improve patient outcomes. The need for food and sleep does not hinder machines, unlike humans, and fatigue is not a factor when perform monotonous tasks for long periods of time.

In addition to these benefits, healthcare robots can perform tasks that may be potentially dangerous for human healthcare workers, such as testing solutions that might be harmful, and reducing exposure to highly contagious pathogens when used in a laboratory setting. This frees up time for healthcare workers to perform other tasks that need human interaction, such as spending more time caring for patients, and taking additional time to answer patient questions, time that may not be available without the extra assistance of the robot. This may be especially beneficial for elderly patients, or patients with hearing or speech impediments, that may require extra time to speak about medical issues during an office visit, fore example.

Patient Attitudes Toward Healthcare Robots

Unlike robots in manufacturing, healthcare robots are relatively new, and learning about how patients feel about robots being using in healthcare is also still relatively new. Some research suggests that most patients have a positive attitude towards robots, though it takes time to warm up to them.

With this in mind, what are your thoughts about robots being used in healthcare?

If you are a patient, how do you feel about a robot providing assistance to you at your next doctor’s office or hospital visit?

If you are a healthcare professional, do you think having a robot could help you in your work? Why or why not?

Leave a reply to these questions in the field below.

Welcome to Star Trek: 10 New Medical Devices of the Future

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screenless displays

Ever watch the newest Sci-Fi episodes (or the older ones) and wonder why your own medical treatment couldn’t be that easy? Here are a few newer medical devices that will bring the futuristic medical treatments straight to your door.

1. The Bionic Eye

Recently in development, but not perfect, is the 3D printing of light receptors onto a glass eye. The silver, which they use as ink, stays where it is put on the rounded glass and produces electric feedback. It is moving on to the next stage of development and designed to increase eye comfort for patients.

2. 3D Print Sockets for Artificial Limbs

girl with curly blonde hair wearing red hoodie against red background holding prosthetic hands and arms together

In the United States, it is not difficult to have a socket fitted to an amputated limb by a person trained in prosthesis in any major city. With the help of cell phone scanning and a 3D printer, patients who live in other countries are receiving low-cost sockets for their amputated limbs. 

3. Contact Lenses For Blood Glucose

smart contact lenses

As the saying goes, “Eyes are the windows to the soul.” They can tell your doctor a thing or two if you are a diabetic. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, these new “smart” contact lenses can detect and transmit your blood glucose level using your own tears.

4. Virtual Dissection Tables

If you are a student who is trying to learn about the human anatomy, watching a cadaver being dissected might be hard to handle. A new device, called a virtual dissection table, might make it easier. The virtual dissection table allows instructors to virtually dissect a human body, identify diseases, and teach surgical procedures without using a cadaver. 

5. Robotic Assistants

From training long-term residents to helping with physical therapy sessions, new medical devices in the form of robotic assistance have been used to move and assist patients with standing or transferring to wheelchairs. A robot is even being developed to draw blood or insert IVs with ultrasound enhanced vein targeting. 

6. Tattoos

Much like the continuous blood glucose sensors, these tattoos are placed on the body to transmit vital signs to medical devices for continuous monitoring. Biometric tattoos can transmit medical information discreetly, allowing for easier communication with physicians. 

7. Sensors in Teeth

You’re on a strict diet. You lie to your physician about how much you ate. With teeth sensors, those days are gone. These teeth sensors can be embedded in your teeth to determine what, how much, and when you ate. These sensors can even track when and how often you smoke. Your actions and intake are recorded and sent to a smart device, allowing your doctor to see real-time data. 

8. Printed Skin

photo of woman with dark skin wearing gold eyeshadow and lipstick looking down while against black background

If you are a burn victim, skin grafts have been made from the cells of burn victims using 3D printing, to give burn victims a better chance to recover without scars and skin graft rejections. The printed skin procedure also reduces the patient’s recovery time and the risk of infections. Printed skin grafts can be as small or as large as needed, without the skin being taken from other areas of the body.  

9. In Silico Clinical Trials

The medical community no longer recruits patients with certain diseases to try different medical treatments. Clinical trials are now taking place on silicon chips. These silicon chips are made to react like an organ, a drug, or a treatment, thereby reducing the need for human trials. 

10. The Medical ‘Tricorder’

young medical professional using clear tablet to study x-ray and other medical data

Still more futuristic than the present, the tricorder from the popular show Star Trek is in development. A contest is in place to see who can pull together the best functioning device that could scan a being and receive medical-grade information- more than just vital signs. 

The future is closer than we imagine, with only developers’ imaginations holding back their ingenuity. Many new medical devices are in development that will aid in our visits with physicians, treatments, and overall learning.  To keep up to date with medical advancements, follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog.

man technology laboratory medicine

Ebola 101: What Challenges Do Physicians Face Treating This Disease?

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Ebola has been a biological bogeyman for decades, but it’s only recently that the disease has made its way into the United States. With fewer than 10 cases and only a single fatality it could be argued that the response to the disease was proper. However, could that fatality have been avoided? And what problems are physicians facing trying to treat this disease in what is supposedly one of the best health care systems in the world?

Ebola 101: What Challenges Do Physicians Face?

Ebola is a deadly condition whose symptoms bear a resemblance to influenza (fever, coughing, weakness, vomiting, etc.) until bruising and bleeding starts. Fortunately Ebola is transmitted by close, personal contact (including contact with a patient’s bodily fluids) which means that it’s much more difficult to spread than an airborne virus. When examined from the outside Ebola should be a fairly simple disease to contain and control, and once it’s contained the treatment should be routine.

Should be is the key phrase here.

Physician reviewing petri dish for signs of Ebola. From the Avidity Medical Design BlogThe primary challenge that physicians face treating Ebola is actually containing it. The disease first has to be identified, and patient placed in isolation, and then physicians need to ascertain that no one else caught the disease from the patient. Given the fear associated with Ebola people may be unlikely to come forward if they were exposed, and this can lead to problems with the disease’s spread.

Another issue that physicians often face is the lack of training and proper protocol regarding Ebola. Whether it’s due to a lack of proper equipment (full body suits that will protect the doctor from a patient’s fluids are a primary concern, and they’re also something of a rarity), or simply not having a plan that’s been communicated to everyone on staff there are often breaches that result in the disease spreading to others when it shouldn’t. Part of the issue is funding, and part of it is experience since those who aren’t familiar with the CDC’s protocols for personal protection may find they make mistakes when they try to follow the guidelines.

male healthcare worker hunched over his desk working

 

Overcoming These Challenges

These challenges are not going to vanish overnight, which is why physicians must take necessary steps to overcome them. Making sure proper equipment is in place is a necessity, and making sure that staff can use that equipment through classes and drilling is also a necessity.

Another necessity is making sure that the protocols put in place are easy to follow, and that they work. That’s where Avidity Medical Design Consultants, LLC comes into the picture. With years of experience in the healthcare industry, and a thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology, Avidity Medical Design Consultants, LLC can develop curriculum to train your staff on guidelines and strategies for treating patients with the Ebola virus. This comprehensive training is ideal for physicians, as well as nurses and other healthcare practitioners, who must address the demands of treating patients with the Ebola virus.

For more information on the healthcare, follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog. To learn more about our online courses, visit Avidity Medical Design Academy. To purchase scented candles and soaps inspired by healthcare, visit Avidity Medical SCENTations.

Brain-Computer Interfaces: What They Mean for the Future Students of Healthcare Education

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Do you remember the old sci-fi movies and TV shows that we grew up with? Do you remember how you felt when you saw Luke Skywalker, William Shatner and Arnold Schwarzenegger using out of this world technology that you thought was the creation of movie magic. What if I told you that the future is already here?

Technology has grown and matured over the last 25 years to a point where man and machine are slowly becoming one. A new and exciting area of tech that is receiving a lot of buzz right now is brain-computer interface technology.

brain computer interfaces

What is Brain-Computer Technology?

A brain-computer interface is a direct communication pathway between the brain and an electrical device. The neurons of the brain are measured with electrodes, which then sends an electronic signal to a device such as a prosthetic leg or arm to simulate human movements.

There are currently two approaches that are yielding results in field studies. The non-invasive brain-computer interface measure activity from large groups of neurons with electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp (EEG). Invasive brain-computer interface measure activity from single neurons with miniature wires placed inside the brain.

Who Is Using Brain-Computer Interface Today?

The United States military has always been on the cutting edge of developing and using new emerging technology in all branches of the services.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of California, San Francisco, contracts worth $56 million to create electrical brain implants capable of treating seven psychiatric conditions, including addiction, depression, and borderline personality disorder.

The military is trying to overcome an epidemic of mental illness among veterans, including suicide rates three or four times that of the general public due to long combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is why the military is turning to neurological devices.

The Brain Chip

Doctors in Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and researchers from Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio have helped a quadriplegic man move his hand for the first time with a brain chip.

Ian Burkhart, the man who was injured in a driving accident was the first patient to use Neurobridge. The Neuobridge system is made of a computer chip implanted in the brain, a brain-computer interface and a sleeve able to send electric signals to the forearm and hand of the patient.

This groundbreaking technology proves the brain-computer interface is more than just a fantasy it is a reality.

person holding string lights photo

What Does This Mean For The Future Of Healthcare Education?

What this means for the future of healthcare education is that learning is going to have to be more cross categorical than ever before.

It won’t be enough for a student to know about basic brain functions and muscle interaction. They will need to understand mechanics, engineering, and software development just to name a few categories.

The healthcare system and healthcare technology are rapidly evolving. Healthcare education must evolve with it to meet the demands of today. For curriculum development and other instructional design services, visit Avidity Medical Design Consultants, LLC for more information.

How to Reduce Prescription Errors in 21st Century Pharmacies

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It may seem like a contradiction but the pharmacy of the 21st century will feature both robotic automation and greater interaction between pharmacists and patients.

prescription pharmacyPharmacy automation has been steadily making its way into many pharmacies throughout the country. Robotic systems from companies like Aesynt, Parata Systems and RxMedic sort and dispense pills, which spares pharmacists from work that takes a lot of time and can lead to human error. It’s hard to put a firm number on presciption errors but the Food and Drug Administration says it has received close to 30,000 reports of medication errors since 1992. With many pills looking alike and many drug names sounding similar, automated systems offer a better way of checking and verifying that patients receive only drug they were prescribed.

Another technology development that will change the pharmacy of the 21st century is the adoption of electronic prescribing, which gives doctors the ability to send prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy. E-prescribing reduces the chances for error that can come from misreading a doctor’s handwriting.

As for the pharmacists themselves, the evolution of pharmacist training is changing the profession. Compared to decades ago, today’s pharmacists can be more specialized and they enter the field with more specialized training, pharmacy consultant Ernest Gates tells Drug Topics. Some of these pharmacists will work in specialty pharmacies in areas such as oncology, geriatrics and diabetes among other areas of specialization.

Pharmacists who aren’t specialists can still expect to take on more responsibilities as a consequence of the Affordable Care Act. With the law’s expansion of Medicaid, Daniel Brown, a pharmacist and professor at the pharmacy school at Palm Beach Atlantic University, tells Medscape that he expects community pharmacies to see more Medicaid prescriptions. He also sees the increase in this patient traffic presenting additional opportunities for pharmacists to talk to patients about preventive services. Here’s where pharmacy automation is important. Automation doesn’t replace pharmacists. Instead, it provides a remedy to busy pharmacists – these systems free pharmacists to spend more of their time counseling patients instead of sorting pills. If the expected increase in patient traffic to pharmacies holds true, time savings found with automation will become very valuable.

For more information about emerging pharmacy trends, please contact us.