For some reason I’m a big fan of all things technology. I liked math and science in school and majored in math in college. I write software, most recently in the geographic information systems (GIS) field. Nowadays, technology plays a big part in the medical field. I’m big on health and nutrition, so writing software to be used in the field of medicine would be really cool. Unfortunately, I live in a small town with not too many options.
Anyways, technology didn’t start being used in medicine until the 19th century. It started out simply enough with devices to measure lung capacity and blood pressure. That evolved into thermometers, microscopes, xrays. Then doctors started to specialize in certain areas, such as eyes, nose/ears/throat, heart, lung, skin, etc. With that came even more complex machines and devices.
My eye doctor has a lot of cool machines that he uses to check the eyes. One machine checks for glaucoma and is used in place of eye drops, which make the eyes blurry. He takes the image from the machine and brings it up on the computer. He can then pan around and see what’s going on inside the eye. He spotted a cataract I have that I was probably born with.
Today surgery is done using a laser. Robots are starting to be used for surgeries where doctors can perform a surgery from a remote location using a computer to guide the robot.
Technology has also helped doctors communicate with patients via email and the internet, which is a really great idea. I wish my doctor would do that as she’s hard to get through to.
The internet has also made it possible to do shopping online. Doctors are very busy and going out shopping to buy medical uniforms takes away time that can be spent doing research and seeing patients. Buying online is also cheaper too, as you can compare prices and get the best deal on a doctor uniform. You can also compare styles and see the latest scrubs in fashion.
It will be interesting to see how even more advancements in technology will impact the medical field in the years to come.
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