Medical technology includes products for diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases. Innovations in engineering have led to miniaturized robots and pacemakers, and ongoing advances are expected to lead to replacement organs and earlier disease detection. Job prospects are also increasing in the field.
Medical technology encompasses a wide range of products used in the diagnosis and monitoring of human conditions and diseases. It also includes the advancement of medicine available to treat diseases that were once fatal and the tools used to perform less invasive operations. Medical laboratory scientists are aware of the implications of using computers and machinery that can analyze more samples of biological material at faster rates and with greater accuracy than ever before.
The most fascinating aspects of medical technology are the innovations that occur at the engineering level. There are miniature robots that are used to perform spinal surgeries that were once considered highly complex and dangerous. The miniaturized pacemakers work without any disturbance to the patient and the drugs can be activated by light to look for diseased cells. Other drugs can be ingested and their activation is delayed until biological processes destroy them when they reach certain organs.
Ongoing innovations regularly contribute to this technology. For example, carbon nanotubes have been used by engineers at the University of Southern California in the United States to simulate neural synapses. This technology is expected to enable very small circuits and tiny semiconductors have already had a huge impact on medical devices and will continue to do so in the future.
Advances in medical technology are also affecting job prospects. Automated laboratory equipment allows blood and cell samples to be analyzed to detect diseases much earlier than ever before. Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for clinical laboratory technicians are projected to grow 14 percent over the next decade. Ease of access to medical technology also allows for more laboratories and diagnostic centers to be opened, and for more hospitals and doctors’ offices to acquire state-of-the-art equipment.
New advances in medical technology are being announced nearly every day, but the future implications of the ongoing work are numerous. Medical devices continue to be miniaturized, and as this continues, new therapies and modifications to existing ones will emerge. Engineering work on creating biological tissue in the laboratory continues, and further progress is expected to lead to the availability of replacement organs in the future. The technology for diagnosing diseases using molecular and genetic studies will enable even earlier detection and better results for the treatment of serious diseases. The well-being of both professionals and patients is benefited thanks to medical technology.
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