Impact of Technology on Healthcare
Technology has played a significant role in fostering great improvement in healthcare services. This improvement has reduced death rates, reliable service delivery, quick processing of vital information and improved quality of life (Kabene 65).
Advantages of Technology in Healthcare
Technology has brought about increased efficiency in patient care and therefore reducing prevalence of chronicle diseases and reducing death rates. Due to increased efficiency, there is reduced demand on healthcare practitioners’ time. This has seen great improvement in the quality of living and increasing life expectancy.
Technology has reduced congestion in the healthcare facilities significantly. Technology makes it possible for patients to communicate with their physicians in the convenience of their homes through internet. In-office visits have been reduced by the fact that patients can share their information through internet and therefore reducing the need of visiting healthcare offices.
Technology has enabled tremendous savings in healthcare cost as a result increased efficiency, reduced medical errors and possibly good channeling of healthcare resources (Kabene 67). The savings realized are able to develop healthcare facilities and other sectors of economy improving the living standards generally.
Auto-technological systems are able to offers services and solution in regions that may prove to be dangerous to medical practitioners. These technologies enable the physicians to handle epidemic diseases in the most appropriate manner and prevent further spreading the diseases.
Technology has brought about better methods of treatment through better machines and new medicines. These have reduced suffering and enabled success in major operations that were considered impossible before technological revolution.
Disadvantages of Technology
On a negative note, technology seems to reduce the need for having many physicians because it enables quick and reliable patient care. This may lead to increased unemployment rate among the young elite who are trained healthcare professional.
Intense use of technology has brought about other health complications that demands great attention. Electromagnetic waves which emanate from different electrical components are considered potential causes of cancer and other disease that pose great challenge in the modern world.
Technology has brought about compromise in patient’s information privacy (Kabene 67). The use of internet has increased the risk of exposing patient’s information to the wrong hands. Security is a major concern in handling patient’s information and technology does not provide concrete assurance in protecting patient’s information.
Work Cited
Kabene, Stefane M. Healthcare and the Effect of Technology: Developments, Challenges and Advancements. Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science Reference, 2010. Internet resource.