TECHNOLOGY ARTICLES

Executive Chair of InnoScot Health, Graham Watson, analyses the rise of the robots across Scotland’s healthcare ecosystem and highlights the huge potential for transforming patient outcomes.

The opportunity and the risk posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) need to be finely balanced: misdiagnoses, incorrect dosages or hacked drug delivery systems pose a tangible danger to patient health, but international regulation for AI and SaMDs is divergent and complex. Ruaidhrí Primrose and Jonathan Ripley tackle the challenges and opportunities.

A major Cochrane review has found that nurses can safely and effectively deliver many aspects of hospital care traditionally provided by doctors. Tim Morris and Greta Westwood CBE PhD RN discuss how the nursing workforce could prepare for expanded roles with blended learning and AI‑informed decision‑making.

Kate Woodhead RGN DMS examines the Government’s ambitions for technology in the NHS, how it will shape the future of care for patients, and the potential challenges that must be overcome.

Christopher Ogden discusses the role of laser technologies in ensuring safe and traceable surgical instruments and medical devices.

In this article, Rhian Bulmer highlights the Importance of nurses in the design and embedding of digital workflows. She argues that nurses remain the vital link between digital ambition and the safe, person-centred care patients deserve.

Steve Thomason provides an insight into how Medilink is supporting MedTech innovation and helping the NHS to speed up adoption of new technologies.

Patients with chest pains and suspected heart attacks are benefitting from better informed decisions in a high-impact initiative led by clinicians, writes Dr. Krishnaraj Sinhji Rathod, a Consultant in Interventional Cardiology at Barts Health NHS Trust. He explains the clinical, environmental, and efficiency significance of digitising electrocardiograms, and the opportunity to scale success more widely in the NHS.

Ameen Mahmood and Professor Jag Dhanda look at how VR technology is transforming training and global access to surgery.

Sustainability was high on the agenda at EBME Expo. Dr. Helen Meese PhD CEng MIMechE MIPEM MWES FRSA told the delegates that biomedical engineers and technologists are “in a very powerful position to reimagine what the healthcare system is going to look like, particularly around environmental responsibility and technology advancement.”

New research from CPI reveals systemic barriers facing UK MedTech startups and spinouts and calls for co-ordinated reform across regulation, investment and NHS adoption, to unlock innovation and deliver national health and economic strategies.

New research from CPI reveals systemic barriers facing UK MedTech startups and spinouts and calls for co-ordinated reform across regulation, investment and NHS adoption, to unlock innovation and deliver national health and economic strategies.

Dr. Shivan Sivakumar PhD FRCP, from the University of Birmingham, says that artificial intelligence is battling cancer but not how you think. He explains how AI is delivering on the NHS 10-Year Health Plan’s survivorship pledge, and urges the oncology community to rethink where we invest our resources and focus.

Doctors who use artificial intelligence (AI) see benefits for their own efficiency and for patient care in a resource-stretched NHS and, although they recognise there are risks, they feel confident in managing them, according to a new study published by the General Medical Council (GMC).

With respiratory diseases – most notably COPD – a growing issue for ageing populations, Bipin Patel looks at how technology can be used to improve diagnosis and monitoring of these conditions, while also easing the burden on strained health providers.

Prof. John Sandham CEng FIHEEM provides an insight into the role of Authorising Engineer (Medical Devices) and explains why this strategic imperative will enhance patient safety and organisational resilience within NHS Trusts.

The 10-Year Health Plan calls for three important shifts in the way health and care is delivered. Technology enabled care, wearables and remote devices will need to become an integral part of the strategy. Steve Wightman offers an insight into the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Data from a registry spanning 13 years has provided new insights into scalp cooling to treat chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Toni Brook and Daniel Milner provide an overview of the key findings and implications for practice.

An ‘Essential guide to medical equipment principles’, has been launched to help new clinical engineers, junior nurses, medics and operating department practitioners (ODPs) understand the fundamentals of many of the standard medical devices they will encounter in a hospital environment.

Oliver Ledgard provides an insight into the findings of a recent study, which shows that integrating automated and digitised inventory tracking systems is a major priority for healthcare organisations.