Saturday 12 October 2024

3 Medical Technologies That Are Breaching the Gap of Human Error

Technology is progressing all the time. As it does, people live longer and the quality of their lives improves as well. This is nowhere more apparent than in the healthcare industry. As new medical technology is introduced and improved, countless lives are saved. This progress has been continuing for the past 100 years. It is also continuing today at a breakneck speed. Below are three examples of medical technologies that are breaching the gap of human error to save lives. 

Precision Medicine

One new development in healthcare that has the potential to be a true game changer is precision medicine. This is medicine designed for specific patients alone. This kind of medicine was not available in the past because only recently has there been enough development in the study of the human genome to successfully decode the genetic information of specific individuals. 

Due to this, medicine in the past was created with scores of people with similar symptoms in mind. In the future, medicine will be designed for individual patients based on their own genetic makeup. It is certain to be much more effective as a result especially in regards to conditions that are very individualized such as cancer. 

One of the ways that healthcare professionals are able to make sure they don’t give someone’s specified IV infusion to another patient is through what they call Smart IV Pumps. These are IV pumps that require a provider to scan a patient’s bracelet and medicine to ensure that it’s the correct IV on file. This eliminates user error on medication, amounts, and any updates that could have been missed by a nurse from a doctor.

Surgical Robots

Something else that will help to end human error in healthcare is robotics. Automation is going to have a large and lasting effect on many different industries. Healthcare will be no different. Much like how a robot can be programmed to build a car, robots in the future will be designed to perform delicate surgeries. 

Since a mechanical arm can certainly be designed to be steadier than a human one, surgeries performed by robots will likely be much more effective and efficient. In the future, surgeons may have more of an information technology management role in the operating room than a hands-on physical role. 

Nanobots

However, robots won’t only be performing surgery from the outside of patients. They will also be able to perform surgery form inside the patient. This will be accomplished through the use of nanobots. Nanobots will be so small that they will be able to interact directly with bacteria and viruses. When injected into the human body, they may able to do amazing things like remove cancer on a cell by cell basis. 

The sky is the limit for healthcare technology. New developments keep coming, and all of them have the possibility of saving thousands and perhaps even millions of lives. If you want to understand how technology benefits mankind, keeping tabs on medical technological advancements is one way to do so.

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