New Inventions Aimed at Helping Doctors and Patients
Time Magazine recently reported on some new technology that is aimed at helping reduce medical errors and help patients get healthy. Some of the new medical software and hardware include the following:
- An operating room black box. A Canadian surgeon has developed an OR Black Box, which uses video, audio, the patient’s vital signs, and feedback from electronic surgical equipment to record what happens during surgery in the same way an airplane’s black box records flight data. The information from the black box can be used by hospitals to analyze why deaths and what complications during surgery occurred. The data should also be useful as a teaching tool. The black box will replace paper checklists which are still the norm in most hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. According to Time, nearly three million people worldwide die during surgery each year and 50 million develop complications.
- AI software to help improve cancer diagnoses. QuantX software aims to help radiologists “analyze MRIs to confirm or challenge” a cancer diagnosis. Radiologists currently rely on their eyes and the experience to read and analyze imaging tests for breast cancer and tumors. The artificial intelligence software system was approved ty the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) after a clinical study found a 20% increase in accuracy due to the software. The software is now being tried out at several university medical centers.
- Ultrasound technology reduced to the size of a chip. Butterfly iQ has reduce the cost and size of ultrasound technology so that health professionals can “simply plug the portable probe into their phone; peer at a patient’s heart, lung or growing fetus; and even diagnose diseases.” This device has also been approved by the FDA and is being used in more than 20 countries.
- Friendlier mammograms. GEHealthcare’s Senographe Pristina with Dueta allows women to control how images of their breasts are taken by using a remote control device – instead of having technicians press the imaging tools against their breasts which can be quite uncomfortable. As a result, research by GE shows that most women are applying more pressure with the remote than technicians apply without the software.
Patients place their trust and the lives in the hands of physicians, hospitals, nurses, medical technicians, and other health providers. At Merkel & Cocke, P.A., we have the experience and resources to help patients and families of loved ones get just when medical personnel are incompetent, in a hurry, or make mistakes for any reason. Call our Mississippi medical malpractice lawyers at 662-799-1633 or fill out our contact form to schedule an appointment with our strong advocates. We represent patients in Tupelo and the Gulf Coast Region – including Jackson, Clarksdale, and Oxford. We also fight for patients in Tennessee and Arkansas.
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