Trending Inventions in Medical Field

Several medical technologies have been developed since the invention of eyeglasses and a stethoscope recorded in history. A more affluent middle class, mobile internet accessibility, and an aging population are all causing rapid change in the healthcare industry, and the accompanying technology is changing even faster than ever.

It is important that the most promising new technologies in medicine be used together, and there are already integrated efforts underway aimed at integrating these approaches. The companies that take a technology-influenced approach to primary care, such as Forward and One Medical, apply technology in a way that lets their providers spend more time with their patients. That’s just the beginning.

Healthcare was forced into the future in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in numerous medical technologies being tested on a massive scale. In 2021, the question will be how to implement those technologies when a pandemic has passed.

Here are 9 inventions that have changed hospitals forever :

1. Stethoscope :

• Stethoscopes were invented because before, doctors would listen to their patients’ hearts and lungs by placing their ear against their chest.
• There were times when this method wasn’t effective, but it was usually sufficient.
• A French physician was unable to hear a patient’s heartbeat by ear on one of these occasions. In response to this, he invented the first stethoscope, an amplified wooden tube that resembled a trumpet.

2. Anesthesia :

• For hundreds of years, many forms of anesthesia had been attempted, but it wasn’t until 1846 that a dentist named William T.G. Morton developed Ether anesthesia in order to perform surgery.
• Modern anesthesia was invented during this event, allowing even complex procedures to be performed without pain.

3. X-ray :

• The treatment and diagnosis of injuries without an X-ray machine would be extremely difficult, but that is what doctors had to do for centuries. The discovery of the X-ray was made in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.
• People didn’t believe the first reports because it was such a miraculous event.
• The use of X-ray technology today in medicine and surgical procedures is widespread. Fluoroscopy, radiation therapy, and computed tomography all use X-rays.

4. Antibiotics :

• The advent of the antibiotic era began in 1907 with the synthesis of Salvarsan (now called Arsphenamine) by Alfred Bertheim and Paul Ehrlich.
• Antibacterial treatment began with the use of the drug against syphilis, marking the beginning of effective treatment.
• Penicillin became available in bulk starting in 1945, which enabled mass production methods to be developed.
• Medication has been modernized by antibiotics since they allowed many previously deadly diseases to be treated and recovered.
• Combining antibiotics with vaccinations has allowed almost all epidemic diseases, such as tuberculosis, to be eradicated.
• Without antibiotics, our world would be a very different place. Today, antimicrobial resistant bacteria are being studied by the medical community as a result of overuse of antibiotics.

5. Disposable Catheter :

• David S. Sheridan invented the disposable catheter in 1978 while working for a floor refinishing company and only had a high school education.
• The key to medical innovation is usually found in highly trained doctors. On the contrary, it was the other way around in this case.
• After being used once, Sheridan’s hollow plastic tube was designed to be discarded. After holding more than 50 patents, he died in 2004 at the age of 95.

6. Cardiac Defibrillator : 

• A decades-old idea called defibrillation was one of the most miraculous inventions of all time.
• The first clinical case of bringing back a seemingly dead individual was achieved by Cleveland cardiothoracic surgeon Claude Beck when he successfully defibrillated the heart of a young boy during surgery.
• Globally, the cardiac defibrillator has saved millions of people from life-threatening situations.

7. CT Scanner :

• The CT scanner was invented in 1971, while the MRI scanner was invented in 1978.
• The development of the X-ray radiography revolutionized the detail of an examination, thus resulting in the invention of the CT scanner, which enables the viewing of layers within multiple X-ray images.

8. Hypodermic Needle :

• The hypodermic needle that has a simple working principle and an austere appearance was invented just 150 years ago.
• Ancient Greeks and Romans used thin hollow tools for injecting fluids into the body before that.
• Chris Wren administered intravenous injections to dogs using goose quills in 1656. Midway through the nineteenth century, Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood developed the modern hypodermic needle.
• Currently, these needles are used for delivering correct drug dosage to patients during treatment and extracting body fluids with minimal risk of contamination.

9. The Artificial Heart :

• Our hearts are the most important organs in our bodies, keeping us alive and carrying blood throughout our bodies.
• Deaths from heart disease in the United States are the most common cause of death.
• Transplants are a great alternative to standard medical treatments and medications for combating these statistics.
• However, there is still an enormous demand for heart transplants compared to the available supply.
• In 1982, after years of alterations, Dr. Robert Jarvik successfully created a permanent artificial heart. It has saved countless lives since it was first invented over 50 years ago.

Technologies leading to improved health :

1. PERSONALIZED MEDICINE :

• It is the personalization of medicine and treating patients as individuals that has been an overarching trend in medical technology.
• The phenomenon occurs at several levels, but it is most readily apparent in biotechnology and pharmacology.

2. TELEHEALTH :

• Telehealth has become a significant trend in medical technology in 2019 as video conferencing technology, mobile internet, wearable devices, and mobile apps become more prevalent.
• Care providers can communicate one-on-one with patients from a distance using a mobile device and a two-way camera. Many of these patients are either living in rural areas or can’t access a physical facility because of transportation problems.

3. BLOCKCHAIN :

• Blockchain technology keeps track of vast amounts of information using a system of unhackable cryptography.
• Patients and providers alike benefit from this as it secures data and cuts out the middleman.
• It is also possible to reduce the possibility of fraud through blockchain, just by reducing Medicare fraud.

4. AI & MACHINE LEARNING :

• Medical care must be delivered with the help of both humans and computers, as they both excel in different areas.
• As with the information that flows into and out of medical facilities, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) function best when they are provided with vast amounts of raw data.
• Their solutions help reduce physician burnout, enable physicians to make more informed decisions about non-absolute diagnoses, and decrease uncertainty in image scan analysis.

5. CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY :

• As a result of immunotherapy, medical definitions are being redefined, mostly by treating diseases that were previously incurable.
• During immunotherapy, doctors modify cancer patients’ cells so their immune systems combine with those of the body to fight the disease.
• Immunotherapy is unlike chemotherapy in that healthy cells are not damaged.
• Changing the immune system can lead to the immune system detecting and destroying more cancerous cells and reducing tumor growth.
• Immunotherapy has been a promising area of medicine for the last decade, with new immunotherapeutic targets and biomarkers emerging constantly.

6. ROBOTIC SURGERY :

• Despite the fact that robots have impacted medical care since the 1980s, the applications have increased exponentially as the technology has improved.
• Diseases can be detected and prevented by nanobots circulating in the bloodstream. Physiotherapy and movement disabilities can be addressed with exoskeletons. In 2019, robotic surgery is likely to be the most visible (and most multi-faceted) application.
• It is less invasive, more precise, less likely to cause infection, and faster to heal than traditional surgery. Using robots based on images, brain tumors can be examined without causing any damage to surrounding tissue.
• Human beings are not capable of accurately shaping bones to fit prosthetics.
• With the advent of superfast 5G connections, robotic surgery, once considered a novelty, will soon become a standard practice.

7. STEM CELL THERAPY FOR HAIR GROWTH :

• The fact that stem cells can become any cell type in the future makes them unique in their own right.
• The use of stem cells in hair loss treatment utilizes this property as soon as possible, once the previous hair has shed.
• Increases hair volume without causing scalp inflammation, reduces scalp inflammation, and produces long-term results

Medicine of the future :

• The modern medical field has helped people live healthier and longer lives. But researchers want to go even further in improving health.
• Medicine’s future looks bright with advances in gene editing, technologies to overcome paralysis and efforts to lower drug costs.
• There is now a wide variety of portable medical technology, no matter where one goes, for instance, smartphones, touchscreens, tablets, laptops, digital ink, voice and face recognition, etc.
• Innovative technologies like electronic health records (EHR), health information exchange (HIE), Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN), personal health records (PHRs), patient portals, nanomedicine, genome-based personalized medicine, and Geographical Positioning System (GPS)

A medical technologist or clinical laboratory professional may also be described as performing medical technology duties in different settings within the public and private sectors. This professional group uses chemistry, genetics, hematology, immunohematology (blood banking), immunology, microbiology, serology, urinalysis, and a variety of body fluid tests.

Medical laboratory scientists (MLS), medical technologists (MT), medical laboratory technologists, and medical laboratory technicians are some of the terms that are used to describe these professionals, based on their level of education, certification, and location.

Pharmacy, devices, procedures, computer-enhanced information systems, and organizational systems all play vital roles in the development and improvement of health technology. Health technology treats diseases by producing medicine, vaccines, devices, and procedures. It includes physical objects and traditional and designed methods of treating and caring for patients in the United States.