Enhancements and the quest for perfection.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bioethics↗
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Results for “Biomedical Technology”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Preventing medication errors with smart infusion technology.
PURPOSE: Processes that pharmacists can use to identify high-risk areas and drugs that require special focus in error-prevention efforts are discussed, with emphasis on the need for i.v. medication error prevention. SUMMARY: Pharmacists can help determine where best to focus medication safety efforts and innovative technology by identifying areas that pose the greatest risk of harm to a patient, such as medications, administration routes, patient care areas, and diagnosis-related groups. Delivery of i.v. medications via infusion devices has traditionally not been a major concern for pharmacists. The introduction of "smart" infusion technology has changed that paradigm by requiring pharmacist involvement in defining minimum and maximum doses for continuous and bolus infusions used within a health care facility. This technology provides a software filter to prevent key-stroke errors in programming infusion devices for delivery of i.v. drugs, as well as a new source of data with which to measure medication errors at the bedside. Implementation of smart infusion technology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center appeared to prevent errors involving heparin. In addition to having an immediate positive impact at the bedside, the technology was relatively easy to implement. CONCLUSION: Smart infusion systems represent an innovative technology that can provide an additional layer of protection at the point of care to help avert i.v. drug errors and prevent patient harm.
Biomedical Technology↗
[From production to evaluation of health systems technologies: challenges for the 21st century].
The study analyzes factors and processes identified in the literature that determine the patterns of production, use and assessment of the health care technologies, which are part of the "medicalization" of contemporary societies. We also evaluate the scientific and technological public and health care policies proposed during the 1990s in developed and developing countries to enhance the impact of scientific and technological development on population health. Problems facing these policies were identified, as were the challenges to be overcome in the twenty-first century.
Biomedical Technology↗
Biomedical patents and ethics: a Canadian solution.
World Trade Organization member states are preparing for the upcoming renegotiation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. One of the important elements of that renegotiation is the ethical considerations regarding the patenting of higher life forms and their component parts (e.g. DNA and cell-lines). The interface between the genetic revolution, patentability, and ethical considerations is the subject of this article. The author identifies, explores, and critiques four possible positions Canada may adopt in respect of patentability of biomedical material. First, Canada could do nothing. This approach would mean keeping biomedical materials outside the patent system and outside the stream of commerce. Canada would simply wait for an international consensus to develop before adopting a position of its own. Second, Canada could go it alone. It could implement a policy that balances the incentive effects of patents with the need to incorporate ethical and social values into the decision-making process regarding the use of biomedical materials. In respect of this option, the author proposes a model whereby non-profit bodies would hold the exclusive rights to research, use, and exploit biomedical materials. Third, Canada could follow the United States, Europe, and Japan by providing for almost unrestricted patenting of biomedical materials. This would be the most industry-friendly alternative. The fourth and final option is to use the medicare system to promote discussion of ethical considerations involved in the use of biomedical materials. The power of provincial health agencies may be used as a lever to ensure the discussion of ethical considerations concerning the use of biomedical materials. The author concludes that the fourth and final option is the best alternative for Canada while waiting for an international consensus to emerge.
Animals↗
Future of caring for an aging population: trends, technology, and caregiving.
Demographic trends clearly indicate that the US population aging patterns will continue to skew increasingly older for decades to come. Driven largely by healthcare and environmental improvements, the average life expectancy in the industrialized world has increased almost 30 years in the last century, allowing people to routinely live well into their 70s and beyond. A concomitant trend has also emerged as a result of increased longevity - the increased number of family caregivers responsible for managing the diverse needs of an elderly spouse or parent. This chapter reviews these emerging trends and their ramifications in more detail. It will also provide insights into some of the issues facing family caregivers as they attempt to balance this added responsibility along with other demands in their lives. Finally, this chapter will outline some of the technology-driven, needs-based solutions that are necessary for maintaining the quality of life for both the family caregiver and the care recipient.
Aged↗
Biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras)-I.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical Engineering↗
Infected wound management: advanced technologies, moisture-retentive dressings, and die-hard methods.
Wound infection is a significant problem for the complicated, critically ill patient. A critical care patient's plan of care can be challenging enough without complicating it with the additional comorbidity of a wound infection. Wound infection delays wound closure, disrupts wound tensile strength; increases hospital length of stay and costs; and escalates the patient's risk of bacteremia, sepsis, multisystem organ failure, and death. The goal is to reduce and eliminate the wound infection before it leads to such drastic consequences, especially in the age of antibiotic-resistant organisms. It is paramount to identify classic and not-so-obvious signs and symptoms of wound infections, correctly collect a wound specimen, and assist in appropriate systemic and topical wound management. Techniques to prevent wound infection and reduce bioburden include nontoxic wound cleansing, debridement of necrotic tissue, proper antibiotic management, and appropriate use of moisture-retentive dressings. Advanced technologies in moisture-retentive dressings include sustained-release silver and cadexomer iodine antimicrobial dressings and negative-pressure wound therapy. Accurate wound assessment, knowledge of new technologies, and applying current wound care standards to clinical practice will assist the critical care nurse in treating and preventing wound infections.
Bandages↗
Scanning the horizon: emerging hospital-wide technologies and their impact on critical care.
This commentary represents a selective survey of developments relevant to critical care. Selected themes include advances in point-of-care diagnostic testing, glucose control, novel microbiological diagnostics and infection control measures, and developments in information technology that have implications for intensive care. The latter encompasses an early example of an artificially intelligent clinical decision support mechanism, the introduction of a national health care information technology programme (UK NPfIT) and its implications, and exotic threats to patient safety due to emergent behaviour in complex information systems.
Biomedical Technology↗
Insurance and new technology: from hospital to drugstore.
This paper traces the relationship between insurance coverage and the technology-induced shift of the locus of medical care and medical spending from the inpatient to the outpatient setting. This shift was accompanied by an increase in the extent of private insurance coverage for outpatient treatments; technological change both caused the increase in coverage (for more costly treatments) and was affected by it (as lower user prices increased the demand for new types of care). Changes in insurance administration technology also facilitated the transformation. Some aspects of the change may have been inefficient, because of the presence of tax subsidy and legal requirements to cover costly new technologies of low effectiveness, but the transformation appears thus far to have worked better for private insurance than for Medicare.
Aged↗
[Brazilian psychosocial and operational research vis-à-vis the UNGASS targets].
Items from the UNGASS Draft Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001) are analyzed. The Brazilian experience of new methods for testing and counseling among vulnerable populations, preventive methods controlled by women, prevention, psychosocial support for people living with HIV/AIDS, and mother-child transmission, is discussed. These items were put into operation in the form of keywords, in systematic searches within the standard biomedicine databases, also including the subdivisions of the Web of Science relating to natural and social sciences. The Brazilian experience relating to testing and counseling strategies has been consolidated through the utilization of algorithms aimed at estimating incidence rates and identifying recently infected individuals, testing and counseling for pregnant women, and application of quick tests. The introduction of alternative methods and new technologies for collecting data from vulnerable populations has been allowing speedy monitoring of the epidemic. Psychosocial support assessments for people living with HIV/AIDS have gained impetus in Brazil, probably as a result of increased survival and quality of life among these individuals. Substantial advances in controlling mother-child transmission have been observed. This is one of the most important victories within the field of HIV/AIDS in Brazil, but deficiencies in prenatal care still constitute a challenge. With regard to prevention methods for women, Brazil has only shown a halting response. Widespread implementation of new technologies for data gathering and management depends on investments in infrastructure and professional skills acquisition.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Medical technology companies broaden role to support the financial success of clinics.
Market challenges continue to mount for hospitals and clinics, causing an unparalleled focus on profitability and return on investment for services. To support these challenges, technology suppliers that were once content to deliver and install equipment have become partners with the institutions they serve. Savvy technology companies are offering an extensive array of services that assist facilities in the planning, cost justification, implementation and ongoing support of their technology. The result is a marriage of progress and profit, resulting in solutions that enhance both the quality of care and the bottom line.
Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
How wearable technologies will impact the future of health care.
After four hundred years of delivering health care in hospitals, industrialized countries are now shifting towards treating patients at the "point of need". This trend will likely accelerate demand for, and adoption of, wearable computing and smart fabric and interactive textile (SFIT) solutions. These healthcare solutions will be designed to provide real-time vital and diagnostic information to health care providers, patients, and related stakeholders in such a manner as to improve quality of care, reduce the cost of care, and allow patients greater control over their own health. The current market size for wearable computing and SFIT solutions is modest; however, the future outlook is extremely strong. Venture Development Corporation, a technology market research and strategy firm, was founded in 1971. Over the years, VDC has developed and implemented a unique and highly successful methodology for forecasting and analyzing highly dynamic technology markets. VDC has extensive experience in providing multi-client and proprietary analysis in the electronic components, advanced materials, and mobile computing markets.
Biomedical Technology↗
Cultivate technology convergence for product innovation.
Technologies from diverse scientific disciplines are being combined to drive innovation in medical devices. How technology convergence and innovation could be further stimulated is explored here using developments in imaging and point-of-care devices as examples.
Academies and Institutes↗
[Early results of evidence-based perinatal care technologies implemented by Zestafoni maternity hospital].
The implementation of evidence-based effective perinatal care in Georgia is very limited. This study was planned as descriptive to define the results of implementation of effective perinatal care technologies, to compare them with existed obstetric practices and reliable research summaries. We identified procedures which should be avoided as routine and practices that should be encouraged. The rate of existed practices was defined retrospectively through analyses of hospital records and interview with health care providers participating in labor and delivery process. The results of implementation of effective perinatal care technologies were determined by exit interviews with postpartum women, verified using hospital notes. The four practices widely used in obstetric care where evidence suggests that they should be avoided as routine, decreased after implementation of effective perinatal care technologies: use of pubic shaving dropped from 97% to 6%, enema from 98% to 5%, episiotomy from 82% to 21%, and lithotomic position from 100% to 30%. Social support or companionship during labor and delivery has been encouraged and used routinely. Obstetric practice must follow best available evidence. There is a need to implement widely effective perinatal care technologies and develop evidence-based clinical practice guidelines which will ensure progressive changes in clinical practice.
Biomedical Technology↗
Patents for life forms: an inappropriate response to biotechnological advancement.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Animals↗
That lonesome grail: The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Base Sequence↗
A reply to Joseph Bernstein.
Dr. Bernstein suggests that anti-vivisectionists should be able to fill in a directive requesting that they receive no medical treatment developed through work on animals. It is replied that this would only be reasonable if research not using animals had long been funded as adequately and its results were currently available.
Animal Experimentation↗
Impact of clinical information-retrieval technology on physicians: a literature review of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies.
PURPOSE: This paper appraises empirical studies examining the impact of clinical information-retrieval technology on physicians and medical students. METHODS: The world literature was reviewed up to February 2004. Two reviewers independently identified studies by scrutinising 3368 and 3249 references from bibliographic databases. Additional studies were retrieved by hand searches, and by searching ISI Web of Science for citations of articles. Six hundred and five paper-based articles were assessed for relevance. Of those, 40 (6.6%) were independently appraised by two reviewers for relevance and methodological quality. These articles were quantitative, qualitative or of mixed methods, and 26 (4.3%) were retained for further analysis. For each retained article, two teams used content analysis to review extracted textual material (quantitative results and qualitative findings). RESULTS: Observational studies suggest that nearly one-third of searches using information-retrieval technology may have a positive impact on physicians. Two experimental and three laboratory studies do not reach consensus in support of a greater impact of this technology compared with other sources of information, notably printed educational material. Clinical information-retrieval technology may affect physicians, and further research is needed to examine its impact in everyday practice.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗