Question

What are some benefits of health technology? What are some drawbacks? Do you feel the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? Why, or why not?

Answer 1

Benefits of health technology:

• Reduced costs
• Reduced administrative and staff burden
• Increased quality and accuracy
• Mobility
• Reduce your paperwork.
• Get your information accurately into the hands of people who need it
• Help your doctors coordinate your care and protect safety.
• Reduce unnecessary tests and procedures
• Give you direct access to your health records
• Time saver
• Better data coordination and management
• Opened the door to more non-invasive procedures.
• Reduce medical errors.
• Reduce duplicative documentation
• Faster lab results
• Ease of access
• More preferable than paper logs
• Convenience of usage
• Easier communication between a doctor and a patient
• Easier communication between departments for consults (doctor to doctor)
• Faster to transfer and share information
• Security of information

Drawbacks of health technology

• Lack of information control
• Safety
• Privacy
• Subject for viruses or other harmful softwares
• Must be upgraded frequently
• Battery powered
• Impossible to restore an information when it is lost
• Technical difficulties may delay any medical processes

Conclusion:

I feel the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. The technologies, when used judiciously, almost always help the patient. However, healthcare workers and other administrators should use the technologies only when they are needed and only when they want to avoid driving up costs. In addition, electronic records should be carefully secured and should benefit patients rather than add to their cost of healthcare.