effects of Medical Technological Advances on The Society

Effects of Medical Technological Advances on the Society
Name of Student:
Course:
Course Instructor:
Date:
Effects of Medical Technological Advances on the Society
Medical technology encompasses a wide range of healthcare products and is used to diagnose, monitor or treat diseases or medical complications affecting humans (Roberts, 2014). Such technologies are intended to improve the quality of healthcare delivered through earlier diagnosis.
The medical technological advances affect the society in terms of making it possible to conduct medical checkups from homes (Hsieh, 2009). It is observed that the growing demand for monitoring people’s state of health in any environment has led to houses now being equipped with medical items such as thermometers and set of scales useful in observing health changes. The system aims at growing range of health systems for individual rather than hospital.
Secondly, According to Hsieh (2009), use of medical robots has caused surgeons to no longer operate on the basis of their skill and experience alone. A robot is designed in an anatomic model that behaves in the same way as a person. This enables repetitive, systematic methodology to quantify external measurements of external factors. This method increases efficiency in the medical sector including quickening processes and cutting on costs of treatment (Roberts, 2014). Further, the need for a high number of medical personalities is catered for. On the other hand, this technology increases the rate of unemployment in the society as the robots do most of the work.

The medical technological advances have improved monitoring systems Such that current technology has resulted in development of inertial sensors that can detect falls and characterize different types of movement (Hsieh, 2009). This is useful to the society as one is able to know his health life over a period of time (Hsieh, 2009). Roberts (2014) provides that it helps in monitoring and preventing the risk of falls in elderly people and people recovering from fractures.
Three Different Examples of Medical Technological Advances and Their Effects
Introduction of internet services in the medical field has eased long distance medical care, where in India a diabetes patient is treated at his own home with online medical supervision and monitoring (Hsieh, 2009). In this case, the patient saves time and money.
Dr. Hellman’s dream of worldwide access to medical information was realized upon the development of possibility of individuals keeping their own electronic medical records (Roberts, 2014). People are now carrying their pertinent information on a flash drive that is essential in times of emergency (Hsieh, 2009). This enables individuals to know their health track as well as facilitating better treatment of emerging diseases with the help of the health record.
Innovations in technology have made the otherwise killer HIV virus to be less cruel where a newborn is functionally cured of HIV (Eaton & Kalichman, 2007). Without technology, a baby born to a HIV positive mother gets the virus. Dr. Hannah Gay, pediatrician, checked on a toddler born to a mother infected with HIV and after two years the baby was found to be free of the virus.
Conclusion
As a result of medical advancements, there is development of new treatments for previously untreatable terminal conditions, including long-term maintenance therapy for treatment of diseases like diabetes, end stage renal disease and HIV/AIDS. Advances in vaccine technology have led to the eradication of several fatal diseases. As much as there are negative effects of technology, the positive effects outweigh the negative ones.
References
Eaton, L. A., & Kalichman, S. C. (2007). Risk compensation in HIV prevention: implications for vaccines, microbicides, and other biomedical HIV prevention technologies. Current hiv/aids Reports, 4(4), 165-172.
Hsieh, J. (2009, November). Computed tomography: principles, design, artifacts, and recent advances. Bellingham, WA: SPIE.
Roberts, B. (2014). 1 Biographical Research. Advances in Biographical Methods: Creative Applications, 136, 11.