Electronic Health Reporter

Modern technology can be seen as a blessing and a curse, especially when it comes to the technology used in healthcare. Some of the medical technological advancements seen today are astonishing. They are there to improve our quality of life and to make us live longer, healthier lives, but everything good comes with risks. The technology we deal with today is rapidly developing and as it does, new threats are being presented to both doctors and hospitals. Today, we will be taking a look at six technologies currently being developed that could potentially become hazardous in the field of medical technology.

Network Shutdown

As we become more and more reliant on electronic medical records, the susceptibility of a hospital suffering a cyberattack or struggling because of a network failure is continuing to increase. To reduce the risk of this happening, all hospitals will need to have an extremely complex network security system that is resistant to hackers. They also need to make sure they have back-up files in case they have to deal with network failure.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine is the practice of remote patient care, so the patient and the provider won’t be physically present with each other. This modern technology has been developed to enable consultations with patients over easy and robust telemedicine software. Although this is convenient, it may create challenges when trying to ensure the quality of care. If things go wrong, then a lawsuit could be filed for medical negligence. In these cases, a Miami medical malpractice attorney should be contacted.

Wearables

Recently, there has been a huge development in medical device technology and there is a wide range of medical devices on the market. These wearable sensors are constantly transmitting a vast amount of health information to doctors. This has already been proven to increase the expectations of patients because they believe doctors are constantly monitoring and will act upon this.

Manufacturing Overseas

Many forms of medical technology that we use today are manufactured overseas. In these cases, the quality of these products can be very difficult to control and identify. This is because there are different rules and regulations overseas, but this is where some of the most advanced medical technologies are created and then mass-produced, so it can’t be compromised.

Connected Medical Devices

Medical devices can now be connected to the internet. An example of this includes morphine pumps. This technology may be useful, but network errors and programming errors can also create a whole new array of risks among the safety of the patients this technology is used on.

Self-Serve Diagnostics

We are all guilty of trying to self-diagnose ourselves using the internet. There is a wide range of services out there for us. However, the current medical system is not prepared to deal with and manage patients who have self-utilized genetic sequencing and other types of diagnostic services.

As great as technology can be, the risks need to be compared to the benefits before it is used on a mass scale. In the above cases, the technology has already been developed and is in use, but luckily for us, there is still time to make these breakthroughs as safe as they possibly can be.