Emerging Medical Technologies

This stimulating collection of essays, a product of face-to-face dialogues among anthropologists, sociologists, and philosopher-historians, focuses on the newly created biomedical technologies and their application in practice. Drawing on ethnographic and historical case studies, the authors show how biomedical technologies are produced through the agencies of tools and techniques, scientists and doctors, funding bodies, patients, clients, and the public. Despite shared concerns, the contributions reveal that the authors have achieved no consensus about the objectives of their research. Deep epistemological divides clearly remain, making for provocative reading.

The book provides an overview of new technologies in medicine. It defines each technology and gives an account of its history, and the principles, technical problems, and applications as well as controversies involved. The goal of the book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the emerging medical technologies in a simple way that is understandable to non-specialists. Biomedical science and medical technologies are developing at such a fast pace that it is hard to follow even for specialists. In addition, they have become more and more complex. This book provides readers with a basic understanding of these technologies and helps them to keep up with new developments. The value of the book is that it is comprehensive and yet concise, which makes the learning process fast and easy.

The very rapid pace of advances in biomedical research promises us a wide range of new drugs, medical devices, and clinical procedures. The extent to which these discoveries will benefit the public, however, depends in large part on the methods we choose for developing and testing them. Modern Methods of Clinical Investigation focuses on strategies for clinical evaluation and their role in uncovering the actual benefits and risks of medical innovation. Essays explore differences in our current systems for evaluating drugs, medical devices, and clinical procedures; health insurance databases as a tool for assessing treatment outcomes; the role of the medical profession, the Food and Drug Administration, and industry in stimulating the use of evaluative methods; and more. This book will be of special interest to policymakers, regulators, executives in the medical industry, clinical researchers, and physicians.

This collection of essays emphasizes society’s increasingly responsible engagement with ethical challenges in emerging medical technology. Expansion of technological capacity and attention to patient safety have long been integral to improving healthcare delivery but only relatively recently have concepts like respect, distributive justice, privacy, and autonomy gained some power to shape the development, use, and refinement of medical tools and techniques. Medical ethics goes beyond making better medicine to thinking about how to make the field of medicine better. These essays showcase several ways in which modern ethical thinking is improving safety, efficacy and efficiency of medical technology, increasing access to medical care, and empowering patients to choose care that comports with their desires and beliefs. Included are complimentary ethical approaches as well as compelling counter-arguments. Together, the articles demonstrate how improving the quality of medical technology relies on every stakeholder -- not just medical researchers and scientists -- to assess each given technology’s strengths and pitfalls. This collection also portends one of the next major issues in the ethics of medical technology: developing the requisite moral framework to accompany shifts toward patient-centred personalized healthcare.

New drugs, new devices, improved surgical techniques, and innovative diagnostic procedures and equipment emerge rapidly. But development of these technologies has outpaced evaluation of their safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and ethical and social consequences. This volume, which is "strongly recommended" by The New England Journal of Medicine "to all those interested in the future of the practice of medicine," examines how new discoveries can be translated into better care, and how the current system's inefficiencies prevent effective health care delivery. In addition, the book offers detailed profiles of 20 organizations currently involved in medical technology assessment, and proposes ways to organize U.S. efforts and create a coordinated national system for evaluating new medical treatments and technology.

The book provides an overview of new technologies in medicine. It defines each technology and gives an account of its history, and the principles, technical problems, and applications as well as controversies involved. The goal of the book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the emerging medical technologies in a simple way that is understandable to non-specialists. Biomedical science and medical technologies are developing at such a fast pace that it is hard to follow even for specialists. In addition, they have become more and more complex. This book provides readers with a basic understanding of these technologies and helps them to keep up with new developments. The value of the book is that it is comprehensive and yet concise, which makes the learning process fast and easy.

Chapter 1. New health technologies: Managing access, value and sustainability Chapter 2. The past and potential future impact of new health technology Chapter 3. Innovation, access and value in pharmaceuticals Chapter 4. Ensuring timely and affordable access to medical devices Chapter 5. Achieving the promise of precision medicine Chapter 6. Digital technology: Making better use of health data

Improving healthcare and staying healthy is one of the most discussed and important issues in our society. Technology has played and will play an important role in many aspects of the healthcare system, and it offers new and better ways to solve the key health problems of the new century. This book describes valued contributions of technology for improving hospital and home healthcare, and gives a perspective on how they will influence critical aspects of future medical care. It provides an overview and discussion of trends, presents the state-of-the-art of important research areas, and highlights recent breakthrough results in selected fields, giving an outlook on game-changing developments in the coming decades. The material is arranged in 6 parts and a total of 31 chapters. The healthcare areas addressed are: General advances and trends in healthcare technology, diagnostic imaging, integration of imaging and therapy, molecular medicine, medical information technology and personal healthcare.