Illinois Institute of Technology Computers and Medicine Alexander M. Nicoara CS485: History of Computers Professor Charles Bauer April 10th, 2016
What is the background of the topic? Computers play an important part in the medical field by contributing towards many advances in medical research and technologies. Foremost, they serve as a resource for storing and processing information such a patient's vitals or diagnosis. This information is very important and always needs to be tracked in case an emergency occurs. It includes: blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels in the blood. Monitoring them is key to keeping a patient in good condition. Other sources of information that computers track are medical records, health insurance information, and laboratory test data. Furthermore, medical technologies such as X Rays, CT, and MRI machines include dependency on computers to function. These machines give doctors many different ways to see inside the body of an injured victim. X Rays use radiation exposure to primarily make bones and joints visible, while CT and MRI machines use magnetic fields to enhance the ability to see muscles and tendons. Another use for computers in the medical field is for research purposes. Modern technology has allowed many more medical discoveries to be made, as well as reduce the time and cost invested in research. Scientists and doctors now have the option of using advanced interfaces displayed on a computer with an entire spectrum of options to choose from to simulate a disease, injury, or other medical stigma. They can use this tool to get a better picture of what s happening inside the human body. From a broader picture, computers are also a big part of population science, which studies the trends of how diseases or illnesses affect a population based on data collection.
As the future continues, we will continue to depend on computers to help, assist, and even one day, perform skilled tasks in the medical field. Technology is constantly changing and becoming more advanced, allowing for more possibilities and ideas to become a reality. What has changed in society because of this topic? In medicine, research is crucial component to figuring out how the body works and interacts with the environment. There are many case studies in a variety of different areas of medicine: from studying bacteria and viruses to cancer and genetics. Before computers became a part of the medical field, doctors often used microscopes, anatomic laboratory equipment, and control subjects in order to experiment. From the observations they would make from these procedures, this data would be documented into a handwritten journal and organized along with the other test trials done. After conducting all the trials needed for sufficient data, scientists from different fields relating to the study would get together to analyze the data and draw conclusions as a group. This process would months to years to complete in order to come up with a viable solution or explanation to a problem. In a cancer study, researchers discovered only 28 target proteins that were involved in cancer cases during the last 30 years. When modern computers and simulation software were implemented into the study, the IBM computer, Watson, and the cancer research team found the six new ones in a month (Keating). Computer technology has significantly sped up the process of not only conducting trials, but also assisting scientists in drawing up conclusions which could be accurately tested and supported by the resulting data. Another area of medicine that computers have revolutionized is hospital care. Before computer aided medical technology, medicine had to manually be measured out by doctors or
filters when hooked up to intravenous tubes. This became a problem for patients who were taking medicine daily because incorrect amounts were measured or given. Statistically showing, the most common alerts were related to underdosing (60%), overdosing (31%), and duplicate drug therapy (9%) (Kaufman). Improved medical technologies with computers have made it easier to address this problem, allowing doctors to administer medicine to patients accurately and consistently without the need to constantly be around the patient. An intravenous smart pump is commonly used today to keep a patient well hydrated as well as given an accurate dosage of medicine into the bloodstream. Overall, these technologies have allowed for fewer mistakes in hospital care and have simplified tasks for doctors and nurses. Has this change been good or bad for society? Having computers integrated into new medical technology has definitely impacted society in a positive way. This has helped speed of the process of gathering, storing, and calculating data for research experiments, hospital records, and in software for medical technologies. As a result, data can now travel faster, and problems can be addressed quicker and be less prone to calculation errors. Furthermore, Doctors can use computer technology to help get a better understanding of the body and its functions. As a result, this can help medical staff diagnose and treat illness and injury more efficiently.
What problems do you think will arise? Even with many benefits computers provide when integrated into the medical field, there are negatives. One problem that new medical technology faces is the sole dependency on computers. If a computer were to experience an interrupt or a problem that can cause something to malfunction the software, it can prevent the whole system or device from functioning properly. This stresses the importance that the computer hardware and software must always be working correctly and must have good exception handling in order to prevent any disfunction incase something were to happen. Another problem with computers being integrated into the medical field is the elimination of jobs. Advanced medical technology has reduced and simplified the roles and tasks of doctors and nurses, as well as lessen the need for assistants. Technology is becoming much more complicated, and is gaining more capabilities to perform medical tasks efficiently. Will this issue still be around 10 years from now? Why? Why not? As technology continues to grow, we will be more dependent on computer technology in the medical field. As a result, we will learn how to overcome such problems pertaining to computer dependency, although job elimination is likely to become more of a problem. Technology is becoming more intelligent, and new software and hardware capabilities will allow machines to perform medical tasks faster and more effectively, thus replacing human jobs.
Research Sources Dhavale, Geeta. "Use of Computers in the Medical Field." Buzzle. N.p., 26 Jan. 2015. Web. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/use of computers in the medical field.html>. Weber, Amber, and Morgan Swink. "Computer Use in the Medical Field." University Of North Carolina. N.p., 8 Sept. 2014. Web. <http://www.unc.edu/~kconyers/comp101/project1/>. Keating, Lauren. "IBM's Computer May Help Cure Cancer." Tech Times. N.p., 28 Aug. 2014. Web. <http://www.techtimes.com/articles/14342/20140828/imb s computer help cure cancer.htm>. Kaufman, Michele B. "New IV Smart Pump Technologies Prevent Medication Errors, ADRs." Formulary Journal. N.p., 20 July 2009. Web. <http://formularyjournal.modernmedicine.com/formulary journal/news/modernmedicine/modern medicine news/new iv smart pump technologies prevent me>.