No doubt about it, technology has eased our lives in many ways, and especially in the ways we get better when we’re sick. Years ago, we could never have imagined diabetes being monitored and controlled remotely, or a robot removing a cancerous tumor, or getting immediate help from a specialist no matter where you are, when you’re having a stroke and not at a hospital, when the more time it takes, the more likely it is you will die.
Diabetes affects more than 25 million adults and children in the US, or almost nine percent of the population. Industry has not ignored that fact – or the market. With new technology, diabetics can now have their insulin levels checked and sent immediately to healthcare professionals standing by at a different location to help them manage their disease.
Some new technology is even allowing diabetics to give up needle pricks to test their levels.
Technology has completely changed the way surgeons perform everything from prostatetectomies to hysterectomies to even inserting breathing tubes. They now use robots (controlled, of course, by surgeons), or, as they’re also called, robotic controlled units. In fact, the switch to little metal arms rather than flesh and blood is causing more men to choose surgery as a prostate cancer treatment.
Today, with a diagnosis of prostate cancer, robotic surgery allows patients to have a procedure that’s less invasive, with a smaller incision and much quicker recovery time, (usually walking out the same day), and with just as good an outcome as traditional surgery.
And women are benefiting, too. According to Connecticut obstetrician-gynecologist Gary Besser, what used to keep women in the hospital for a week now takes only a day, and most go home after surgery. The daVinci platform for robotic-assisted surgery lets clinicians everywhere offer surgical procedures to women for hysterectomies, myomectomies, and urological conditions that used to require months of healing and long stays in the hospital, now reduced to a week, at most.
Surprisingly, mental health is one of the biggest areas where technology is now being used. Therapist Maud Purcell says it definitely has its uses, but its drawbacks, too. “If you’re already working with a patient and they have to travel for work or go to college or on vacation and they have a crisis, or you anticipate that they might need some on-going support, I say go for it. But and it’s a big but – you should only do this if you already have an established relationship and the patient is not a danger to himself or others. Skype, email, text, or phones are all options that are better than not having the contact.”
Where she would never advise counselors to work with patients over these communications tools, however, “is if you do an initial intake with a patient and think you’ve got a thorough sense of who that person is, know everything you need to know about this person,” she says. “It’s a huge mistake to do that, even on Skype, even when you can see the person.”
All kinds of clues and behaviors can be missed when you don’t see a person face-to-face, Purcell says. “There are things that you can’t pick up the way you could if they were in person – for example, if they’re slouching, or glowering when they walk into your office. There’s a way patients carry themselves in certain emotions and moods that tell you what they might not, and you would miss that on Skype.”
Many agree there are limits to just how far technology should go, when it comes to healthcare. Dr. Manny Alvarez of Fox News is concerned about new software “that may help determine the likelihood of death in older and terminally ill populations.”
The idea was to help prevent over-testing and over-treatment of some patients – or under-treatment for more robust patients. The software uses a range of “assessment scales” to determine the chances of death within six months to five years. But Dr. Alvarez fears the way medicine is going, doctors are “relying on computerized testing before they have any idea of what’s going on.”
He acknowledges that many terminally ill patients are lost “because there is not good communication between specialists, and families are not given enough information and reasonable explanations on the conditions of their loved ones.” He believes people, rather than technology, could help with that.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.
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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
