Rising Medical Tech Trends: Saving Lives with High Tech Innovations

There has always been an ongoing debate whether tech has been a major gain or disadvantage to the human race. And as always, both sides of the debate have supporting proofs to back their arguments.

For technophobes and neo-Luddites, technology products not only go contrary to nature but also act as detriments to the health of human beings. To them, ‘technology amplifies violence’.

However, a quick look at stats and we will be amazed at the enormous improvements tech has brought to our lives. A major beneficiary of these advancements is the health-care industry.

Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, Robots(AI), Health Informatics are among several innovations that have greatly improved the success rate of health care practitioners

Virtual Reality – A Cardboard That Saves Lives

A couple of days ago, I came across an article that inspired me to write this post. A few months ago, the news that a surgeon and his team saved a baby’s life with the aid of a Google cardboard went viral.

Funnily, using this VR device wouldn’t have been possible if not for the failure of another high tech – the 3D printer.

The baby had been born with a heart and lung defect so severe that the doctors had written the chances of saving her life off. Upon visiting another hospital, a 3D model of the baby’s heart had been requested for. However, the news of a broken 3D printer left the cardiac doctors lost for words having to perform a complex process without any aid.

Amazingly, the pediatric cardiologist came up with what eventually turned out to be a better solution – A Google VR Cardboard. By Using the headset with an app, the Lead Surgeon was able to not only practice before the surgery but also conduct it with accurate precision.

The story above is just one of several cases that VR is increasingly being used in the medical field

• Doctors partnering with Samsung VR and other companies in training the next generation of doctors

• University Researchers using Virtual Reality to help train Medical Emergency Response Teams

• Therapists and Doctors using VR to cure phobias, manage pain, help stroke victims and treat PDST.

The World of VR is just developing. As more sophisticated VR devices are released, it is hoped that the healthcare industry will witness higher success rate in saving lives.

3D Printing and Renewing Hopes

Initially available for designers and engineers, 3D Printing is already revolutionizing healthcare. From organs to prosthetics, 3D Printing is changing lives in a cost-effective manner.

Last year, doctors for the first time implanted a 3D printed ribs to replace the parts of a patient’s skeleton that were affected by chest wall sarcoma – a cancerous tumor that grows around the chest.

This is just one of the many use cases for 3D Printing.

For example, experts have developed 3D-printed skin for burn victims and airway splints for babies with tracheobronchomalacia, which makes the tiny airways around the lungs prone to collapsing. The airway splints are especially significant since they are the first 3D implant made for kids and they’re designed to grow with the patient. The medical implant had been successfully tested in three children between the ages of three months and 16 months as of April 2015. The splints can be produced in a matter of hours, and they only cost about $10 per unit.

Also, the usage of prosthetics by those who lose their limbs has always been a painful one. It is very hard to create an artificial limb that’s compatible with the body structure and gives little or no room for latency in interpreting commands from the nervous system. 3D Printing has made surmounting this challenge quite easy. Below is an amazing watch.

Helping The Overworked and Understaffed - Robots and AI to the Rescue

There has been so much debate about the pros and cons of the production of robots and in extension, artificial intelligence.

A major complaint by the populace is the potential likelihood of robots taking over jobs currently occupied by humans. This is not the case in the med industry.

It’s common knowledge that health practitioners go through so much stress. No wonder there is the prevalence of stress-induced medical mistakes

From a 2014 survey

Of those nurses surveyed by the Vickie Milazzo Institute in Houston, 64 percent said they rarely get seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Another 31 percent said they get enough sleep just two to three nights a week.
And despite being in the health industry, 77 percent of nurses said they regularly do not eat well. They may also have long shifts and on call availability that make them more likely to pull 24- or 36-hour shifts.

Enter the Robotic Nurse Assistant

The Robot is designed to help nurses in some strenuous physical tasks that can cause injury.

In the future, even more, advancements will be launched. For example, it is forecasted that the first robotic pharmacist will arrive in the US 2021.
Also, Improved Health Informatics from AI is helping doctors perform remote patient monitoring thereby reducing the workload on them. Easy exchange of patient information across the various healthcare system components is also being aided highly-intelligent computer systems thereby saving cost and improving efficiency.

Conclusion
The human life is sacred and precious. And while technology has been blamed for a lot of negative mind-numbing. There is certainly no doubt that it has brought great advancement to the human race.

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I write every now and then on topics – (AI, Economics, Psychology and All Things Tech) - that pique my curiosity. Would love to hear from you ;)

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Sources:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/07/health/google-cardboard-baby-saved/index.html
https://hbr.org/2009/04/4-arguments-against-technology
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Life-Sciences-Health-Care/gx-lshc-2016-life-sciences-outlook.pdf
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/10-top-healthcare-technology-advances-2016-according-ecri
https://getreferralmd.com/2016/01/healthcare-technology-2016/
http://www.businessinsider.com/technology-tipping-points-we-will-reach-by-2030-2016-11/#90-of-the-population-will-have-unlimited-and-free-data-storage-by-2018-1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2015/05/22/how-virtual-reality-may-change-medical-education-and-save-lives/#904fe4ff8902
https://yoyodesign.com/insight/knowledge/2016/november/how-virtual-reality-will-save-lives/
http://www.alphr.com/virtual-reality/1004689/how-samsung-gear-vr-is-helping-to-train-doctors-to-save-patients-lives
https://www.borntoengineer.com/army-medics-use-vr-chinook-help-save-lives-battlefield/
http://www.vr-intelligence.com/6-vr-uses-healthcare-will-blow-your-mind
https://hbr.org/2016/03/3d-printing-is-already-changing-health-care
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/nurses-overworked-understaffed-070714