Technology in Medicine

1. Technology in Medicine • Computers in health care • Medical information systems • Administrative applications • Office management systems • Clinical and special purpose systems

2. Other Applications • Computer-assisted surgery • Prosthetics • Pharmacy

3. Computer-assisted surgery • Computer-assisting surgical planning • Robotics • Minimally invasive surgery • endoscopic surgery • laparoscopic surgery

4. Prosthetic Devices • Myoelectric limbs • Microprocessors • Computer technology for vision and hearing

5. The Computerized Pharmacy • Computers and drug errors • The automated community pharmacy • Hospital pharmacy robot and bar-codes • Point-of-use drug dispensing

6. Radiology and Digital Imaging • X-rays • Traditional vs. digital x-ray • Mammography • Ultrasound • Digital imaging • Computerized tomography • Magnetic resonance imaging • Positron emission tomography

7. Bloodless surgery • Interventional radiology • Stereotactic radiosurgery • Focused ultrasound surgery

8. Telemedicine • Definition: “The use of computers, the Internet, and other communication technologies to provide medical care to patients at a distance.” • Forms: • Voice • Data • Still images • Motion picture

9. Telemedicine • Includes: • Diagnoses • Patient monitoring • Treatments

10. Telemedicine • Telehealth: • Larger field that includes health-related education • public health research • health services administration

11. Telemedicine • Advantages: • Brings high quality medical care to anyone regardless of distance • Decreases patient wait time • Decreases patient travel time

12. Telemedicine • Teleradiology: Oldest form of telemedicine using computers and telecommunications . • Interactive video conferencing: Conferencing that allows medical professionals and patients to consult in real-time, using telephones and video screens.

13. Telemedicine • Telepathology: Transmission of microscopic images over telecommunications lines allowing the pathologist to view images on a monitor instead of under a microscope. • Telepsychiatry: Uses teleconferencing to deliver psychotherapy. May not be suitable for some types of mental illness.

14. Telemedicine • Remote monitoring devices • Telespironmetry- • used for asthma patients • information transmitted over telephone lines to remote location • Arrhythmia monitoring • ECG telemetry that monitors a patient’s cardiac status and sends it to a remote location

15. Effectiveness of Telemedicine • Examining a patient at a distance is not the same as examining that patient face to face • In prisons, telemedicine has led to decreased costs and improved health care for inmates

16. Effectiveness of Telemedicine • Medical assistants at the remote sites may be useful • Small hospitals and clinics may find hardware costs prohibitive • Research studies generally favorable for medical and cost effectiveness

17. Use of Telemedicine • Health care to the elderly (homebound) • Connect rural primary care physicians to urban specialists • Allow families of high-risk newborns to watch babies’ hospital care from home • Data can be transmitted from ambulance to ER • Patients with chronic illnesses can receive medication reminders at home

18. Issues in Telemedicine • Technical issues • appropriate telecommunications infrastructure must be in place • not available in some rural and urban areas • requires high bandwidth (cable modem)

19. Issues in Telemedicine • Insurance issues • insurance may not coverall telemedicine • Legal issues • licensing laws differ in each state • liability is not clear • Privacy issues • electronic medical record subject to misuse • HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)