New Technologies In Medicine

THE MEDICAL FIELD ranks among the top three industries that utilize educational technology in the training of its students and workers.The benefits of utilising these technologies are not only they shorten the learning curve for new trainees,but also  they aid  who are already trained by continuous medical education benefits.

Implentation of creative training techniques can not only benefit the medical students, but also patients in long term.

Appropriate technologies are needed in area of medicine,in order for tangible benefits to be realised .Use of innovative techniques in medicine can be exciting but also very expensive.

Today technologies in medicine can be seen not only in hospital setting but also at one’s own home.But the exciting growth of new technologies in medicine has also brought about some guarded anxiety among patient who utilise them in their daily lives.

Is too much technology in medicine harmful? Is it fine to continue with the good old fashioned utilisation of laboratory research?

The need to accelerate the pace of research is important not only to eradicate the prevailing diseases but also to combat the future arrivals. The average life cycle for finding a cure or a new therapy for disease is around 2 decades.This involves concentrated research.

What  are the benefits of medical simulation ?
Using the techniques of simulation in the area of medicine has several important applications.Most important are that the physicians in training can learn new techniques with ease,and specialised physicians can learn arbitrary anatomies of patients.

The practice of medicine in the future will change dramatically.The evolution of medical sciences over the period of time has been gradual.The discovery of new methods of treatment has been occuring steadily over the past decade.yet,it is not sufficient.

Eradication of all diseases from this world may not be possilbe in the near future,but the way we treat the diseases will be different.

On a average it takes many years for a new treatment or a technique to be standarised for regular patient care.This wait is sometimes too long and will not be appropriate  in certain circumstances.One of the solutions is to develop simulation based training techniques which help physicians to learn new techniques and also become proficient in them prior to their use in real patients.

Patients can then benefit form new techniques and physicians can benefit from becoming confident in using a novel technique.

Articles on simulation in Medical literature

Reduction of errors leads to better patient outcomes,saving more patients lives in future

In the area of education and training, users can be exposed to something that is normally too dangerous, expensive or otherwise prohibited to do any other way. Virtual reality provides real-time interaction with instruments on equipment and a more realistic training environment than conventional simulators/simulations

Stimulated Interactive Augmented Reality (SIAR) explores various approaches to enhance the user’s view of the current real world with computer generated information. By combining video input with immersive display technology, SIAR allows users to work with augmented real like 3D objects while seeing additional information about the objects or the task at hand. 

The burgeoning growth of medicine and the information associated with effective  patient care requires management of records in digital format.This allows for optimum utilisation of resources and also for quick access of necessary required information.

In today’s world there are evolutionary changes occurring rapidly in field of technology. But the changes in area of medicine are slower. There is a large time gap for bench side medicine to enter clinical phase. The fear of complications and its implications on patients are major roadblock for entry of new techniques into mainstream medicine and surgical field.Developing a simulated technique of new techniques, new technologies on virtual patients are some of the solutions. But; the road for this journey is not easy.

Seventeen. That’s how many years you would have to wait for a new solution to your disease if a treatment is not already available or close to being approved for public use.

from: Greg Simon, President
FasterCures / The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions