Assessment of medical technologies is an important topic in health services research. The article describes a special aspect of user-related evaluation of devices in Norway. The Norwegian hospitals have high technical capacity and standards but the equipment is not assessed before being purchased by the hospitals. The idealistic rules for ...

This paper develops an analysis of women's perceptions of medical technology and the elements which shape them, and then draws out the implications for medicine and the and the medicalization thesis. In the first part of the paper we outline the macro-theoretical debates about medicalization and the role of medical ...

Medical-technical possibilities are often experienced as being strongly compelling. This imperative character of medical technology not only applies to the medical profession, but also to patients who frequently find it very difficult to refuse medical examinations or treatments. This article discusses the technological imperative with regard to patients. It attempts ...

Following an initial description of the marketplace for CME, the article identifies and explores six key issues for the future of academic CME: evolution of the academic health center; practice changes and reimbursement; impact of technology; regulatory influences; proliferation of CME providers; and medical school leadership. The author then turns ...

This paper introduces fetal monitoring by describing the medical problems of the fetus in utero. The various methods currently used to monitor the fetus are reviewed with their respective advantages and shortcomings. New methods of surveillance of the fetus are highlighted as well as the mother's reaction to the technology.

This study investigates three questions related to the problem of medication nonadherence among elders. First, does recall failure play a significant role in nonadherence? Recent research suggests that it may not. Second, can the new portable bar code scanner technology be used to study nonadherence? Other forms of monitoring are ...

Laws and standards of medical practice with respect to the determination of death have changed dramatically as knowledge of the human body and its detailed cellular functions have increased. This article describes legal and medical advances in the determination of death emphasizing the role of modern imaging technology in this ...

The majority of doctors have experienced the frustration of the loss of a patient's medical records. A new development in technology may help alleviate this problem and indeed facilitate patient care. This development is the smart card. This article describes the types of smart cards and their use within the ...

Advances in medical technology, aviation technology, and operational procedures have created a rapidly changing background against which assessment of fitness to fly must be made. The current paper examines such changes in relation to the colour perception standard. The necessity for adequate colour perception in the modern aviation environment is ...

Medical care is increasingly dependent on technology, but what are the problems involved in the transfer of technology from a developed to a developing country? What are the administrative, personnel and engineering problems? We address these questions in the context of our experience of transferring the medical technology and knowledge ...

The biosensor exploits the unique specificity of biological recognition events by coupling an enzyme, antibody or other biorecognition species to a transducing device. Interaction of the biocomponent with substrate or antigen is thus converted into a suitable quantitative output. The development of these biosensors is a multidisciplinary effort, exploiting many ...

Faith in paranormal cures has always been the last hope of many sufferers from chronic or incurable diseases. Magico-religious rituals of healing are still around, but some have been replaced by pseudo-scientific systems, thinly disguising old superstitions in new obscurantism, more appealing to the half-educated. In medical quackery, inventiveness seems ...

Over the past 10 years, endourology and ureteroscopy have revolutionized the field of urinary endoscopy. No longer limited to cystoscopic examination of the lower genitourinary tract, endoscopy incorporates the upper tracts as well. With this surge in upper tract endoscopy has come a rise in the variety of medical instruments ...

General aviation crashworthiness can potentially benefit from certain advances being accomplished by the automobile industry. Progressive improvements in crash protection technology, as documented by a dramatic reduction in crash injuries and fatalities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, reflect improved crashworthiness. The speeds of survivable general aviation aircraft impacts are in ...

Seven consensus development conferences have been held in Sweden since 1982. The conferences, sponsored by the Swedish Medical Research Council and Spri, typically examine social, organizational, and economic aspects of technology, and therefore, generate consensus statements of interest not only to physicians but also to politicians and health administrators. The ...

The author contends that the diffusion and use of modern medical technologies has had a profound impact on the hospital environment, the doctor-patient relationship, and the humanity of the patient. On these grounds the author argues for a rigorous, comprehensive, and ongoing assessment of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. He stresses ...

The different models of consensus development conferences (CDCs) are analyzed in relation to democratic technology assessment. In some countries CDCs are mainly concerned with influencing the quality of clinical practice and thus are dominated by medical experts. In other countries, CDCs are directed towards the public and the decision makers ...

Physicians today are concerned that changes in the organization of medical care may greatly reduce their control of the practice of medicine. Evidence of the effects of three of these changes--the rapid corporatization of practice, the increased use of medical technology, and the use of information technology in clinical decision ...

This paper offers a theory to explain the diffusion of new medical technologies into local practice. Based on several hundred interviews with community hospital physicians, it anchors technology decisions in the norms and relationships of local practice. Physician descriptions of their use of different types of assessment information provide insight ...

Regulation strategies for controlling hospital costs are widely discussed today and medical technology assessment is one of these strategies. A Committee for Evaluation of the Diffusion of Innovative Technologies (CEDIT) was created in 1982 at the 'Assistance Publique de Paris', the most important health care institution in France. The CEDIT ...

The assessment of medical technologies has to answer several questions ranging from safety and effectiveness to complex economical, social, and health policy issues. The type of data needed to carry out such evaluation depends on the specific questions to be answered, as well as on the stage of development of ...

In doing technology assessments, it is essential to understand the ethical values used and encountered on the way to reaching judgments and making choices. Some of these values, and the context of their application are discussed. Considered are the application of the do-not-harm principle of medical action, the duty to ...

This article begins the sketching out the constitutional arrangements in Italy for the distribution of powers among different levels of government. The more important characteristics of the health system are then examined in some detail, the aim being to provide a sufficient basis for understanding the analysis of technology policy ...

This paper reviews the evolution of U.S. policy toward medical technology in areas such as cost containment, regulation of devices and drugs, and third party reimbursement. In addition the authors chronicle the diffusion of major medical technologies, procedures, and organizational innovations in the United States. Finally, the article provides tentative ...

Universities, especially those with medical schools whose academics engage in clinical research, have a vital role in shaping the way in which medical technology is used. Academic clinicians are a bridge between laboratory research, where new technologies are developed, and clinical practice, where these technologies are applied in treating patients. ...

Plastics are fulfilling a number of critical roles in a variety of medical applications. While some of these are low-technology, throw-away products, many of the applications impose critical requirements as to mechanical performance, chemical resistance, biocompatibility, ability to be sterilized and to remain sterile. By performing capably and reliably in ...

Recent major developments in supercomputer technology are outlined. Areas of interest in biomedical supercomputing that are discussed are: (1) molecular modeling and dynamics; (2) medical imaging and signals processing; (3) modeling and simulation of complex physiological systems; (4) genetic engineering; (5) large-scale database design; and (6) artificial intelligence in medicine.

Medical Technology Assessment begins with carefully posing the appropriate questions to be examined. Specification of the critical assessment provides the framework for the design to provide the answers. This paper addresses the Technology Assessment process as a sequence of the above steps. The practical requisites of the diversity of questions, ...

Litigation against police agencies for the use and misuse of control agents and procedures has become an important issue for the forensic medical specialist and expert witness. As police technology improves, it becomes apparent that more information for forensic experts will be required in this area. One such area of ...

This article presents a review of the development of coronary care units (CCUs) as a paradigm for the uncritical acceptance of technology in medical services. Studies comparing CCU with other settings for treatment of acute myocardial infarction are described in which intensive care is not shown to offer a consistent ...

Technology assessment consists of the determination of the importance, size, or value of scientific knowledge and technique. It is an everyday event in the practice of pathology on an individual level and by pathology organizations. Many powerful and expensive new technologies are being developed and applied and must, of necessity, ...

RADPLANET is a functioning LAN (Local Area Network) designed to integrate the many and varied facilities of a university medical center radiology department (Department of Radiation Sciences) into an efficient unified resource providing state-of-the-art diagnostic capabilities and delivering precision radiotherapy. RADPLANET links diagnostic work stations, radiation-therapy planning work stations, and ...

As the single most important experience in the lives of all people, the process and event of death must be handled carefully by the medical community. Twentieth-century advances in life-sustaining technology impose new areas of concern on those who are responsible for dying persons. Physicians and surrogates alike must be ...

This paper: describes the development of a 'hospital technology index' to measure the level of capital intensive medical technology in each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, reports differences between states in scores on this index, and tests the hypothesis that there is a low but ...

This paper discusses both the current interest in and approaches to the employment of advanced medical technology in Taiwan. It describes the formation of the national policy, including funding, reimbursement, and regulatory processes, on adopting innovative and expensive medical technologies. Using the case of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), the key ...

In the last fifteen years, medical technology has made significant and spectacular advances. Hemodialysis, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, CT scanners, and organ transplants are among the treatments now available to patients. In recent months, in fact, the media has reported the increased use of artificial hearts, heart transplants, and ...

High technology developments in diagnostic imaging raise a number of issues that are disturbing. New developments do not always favor greater diagnostic efficacy since fads, marketing promotion, and entrepreneurs can distort medical goals. New advances disseminate rapidly in affluent societies before formal benefit evaluations are completed. We suggest that digitization ...

Great variation exists in the health care delivery systems throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In general, medical technology is concentrated in large cities at private hospitals that serve a small, elite segment of the population. What is missing in most of these countries is a clearly defined social policy ...

The presence of sustained tachycardia in a fetus can result in congestive heart failure, hydrops, and eventual fetal death. With the increased use of advanced technology in routine obstetric practice, fetal tachycardias are being diagnosed with greater frequency. Recently, administration of antiarrhythmic medications to the mother has been successful in ...

The impact of changes in medical education on the future of pathology are examined by analyzing how recommendations in the GPEP report may affect pathology practice. For pathologist teachers, there will be increasing involvement with students during the clinical years of the curriculum and emphasis on new course material particularly ...

Until the advent of bifocal hydrogel lenses, monovision or reading glasses were the modes of correction for hydrogel contact lens wearing presbyopes. Recent design innovations and improvements in the manufacturing technology of soft contact lenses have made possible new developments in bifocal hydrogel lenses. Patient selection and patient education play ...

This paper describes a pilot interdisciplinary experience between the dental hygiene and medical technology programs at Marquette University. It was designed, in part, to familiarize dental hygiene students with the medical technology profession. Comments solicited from students on the final evaluation form indicated that this pilot project was highly successful ...

Analysis of data obtained through a survey of women in Monterrey, Mexico, indicates that the transfer of breast self-examination (BSE) technology from the medical community to the Monterrey public has been inefficacious. Only 1 in 200 women reported monthly breast self-examination performed correctly and at the optimal time of the ...

In the context of rising health expenditures it is relevant to consider the behavior of those who, in large part, determine what medical procedures are performed on patients. The purpose of this paper is to describe the utilization of diagnostic tests of the colon in Australia. The study is restricted ...

Medical technology, defined broadly as the practical application of medical knowledge, is not always used effectively and efficiently because of imperfect prior assessment. Because of the scientific and financial implications of such inadequate technology assessment, many groups in the executive and congressional branches of the federal government, physician-sponsored organizations, nonphysician ...

An interventionist approach focusing primarily on effective test-taking methods, but also emphasizing self-assessment and self-directed learning, was employed in efforts to enhance a class of medical technology students' performance on the ASCP Registry Examination for medical technologists. The class receiving intervention was compared with two other groups of medical technology ...

Diagnostic anatomic pathologists have to resolve a number of conflicts. They have been thrust into medical marketplace competition with which they have little experience. New technology and CPT-4 codes have given them an economic base at the same time that DRGs are limiting expenditures. Computerized surgical pathology reports are possible, ...

In conclusion, it is obvious that the delivery system for medical care is changing much faster than anticipated. Technology is the agent in this process and economics is both the driving and the limiting force: driving because it is the impetus to change the sites of medical practice, limiting because ...

Recent advances in medical technology are confounding traditional definitions of life and death and even of who is a person. This article considers the implications of these developments for social workers and presents a technique for helping clients make decisions in the face of ethical dilemmas created by new medical ...

New medical technologies are adopted by practising physicians at varying rates. Thrombolytic therapy is an example of a technological advance that many physicians have seemed reluctant to employ. A random sample of board certified internists was surveyed by mail to study factors that influence decisions to use thrombolytic agents. Variables ...