Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Is Google going into the optometry business? You’ve probably heard of Google Glass, but recently Google has built a contact lens. The contact lens would not only improve your vision, but it could also monitor your diabetes levels. From the Google Blog: We’re now testing a smart contact lens that’s built to measure glucose levels…
Currently, robot-assisted surgery today is dominated by the da Vinci Surgical System. The device is highly regarded, but is heavy (weighs half a ton) and expensive ($1.8m). Plus it uses proprietary software, which means that physicians and engineers not associated with da Vinci cannot alter its operating system. Change is on the horizon, however. “None…
The Economist‘s Technology Quarterly reveals some recent advances in medical technology: Cockroachs: A model for artificial hearts. A laser that would make Dr. Evil proud: one that fights malaria. Mobile phones used to monitor Tb compliance. No more MRIs? The advent of photoacoustic imaging.
Information technology has the possibility of greatly increasing the efficiency of health care. EMRs can reduce the cost of accessing patient information. New technologies can make medical devices more effective. But is there a cost to increased medical technology? GigaOM wonders “…will widespread diagnostics increase the burden on healthcare? Somewhere between 10 and 50…
My grandmother is 96 years old and incredibly lives on her own. My mother drops off packages of food she prepares for my grandmother and gets her mail, but my grandmother still does her laundry and gets herself ready in the morning. Bringing in some help for her or moving her to an assisted living…
The Economist (“Doctor on Call“) has an shows that mobile phones may have another use for doctors: a microscope. “Mr Maamari is a member of a research team led by Dan Fletcher, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, which has developed a cheap attachment to turn the digital camera on many…