COMPUTER IN MEDECINE

Computers play a very important role today in medicine without computers in medicine work would have been too tedious and might even lead to loss of life frequently below are three wide area in which computers are used in medicines

Maintaining Patient History & Other Records

    The complete bio-data as well as medical history of a patient is recorded into the computer. The medical history is delivered to the related doctor for the check up of the patient. In this way, much of the doctor's time is saved.

In addition to patient history, other information about doctors, medicines, and medical equipments is also maintained through computers. These information can be retrieved very easily and quickly.

 Diagnosis

    Computer is also used in hospitals for diagnosing diseases. Different medical tests depend upon the computerized devices such as laboratory test of blood.


One common use of computer in hospitals is to scan the body of patient. A special scanner is used for this purpose. For example, the CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanner passes rays over the patient. It displays an image of bone and tissue structure of patient on a computer screen. This image is printed on the printer. It is also store in computer for later use.

Patient Monitoring

    Different electronic scanning devices (medical equipment) are used in hospitals. They are connected with computers. These devices are used to monitor the patient continuously. Thus computers are normally used in the following medical units of hospitals for monitoring patients.
ICU (Intensive Care Unit)
Operation Theater
Recovery Room
Medical Ward
ECG (Electrocardiograph)

Communication

Primarily, the Internet provides the patients, doctors, and nurses with quicker communication. This way, the three can communicate from greater distances at the same speed as if they were together. Online medical forums allow the practitioners to discuss particular portions of a medical scenario and to come up with timely conclusions. Furthermore, Electronic Medical Records are believed by clinicians to have instigated a greater amount of communication with patients is multiple ways. Those who use EMRs' e-mail function agree that it "lowered communication barriers" and "improved the quality of relationship" by increasing communication between office visits and eliminating phone tag. Also, because clinicians do not have to run down the hall for test results, or leave the room to pull up medical records, they are spending more face-to-face time with their clients. The appointment time can go uninterrupted because the doctor/nurse has everything they need operate smoothly at the click of a button.

In addition, online communication between multiple doctors provides a wider amount of information that puts the patient at greater ease. They are better able to trust the diagnosis and the conclusion of the doctor because he has received numerous second opinions. The communication barrier created by the medical language can also be torn down through the ready availability of information for the patient provided by computers. While the clinician can verbally explain to their patients how something works, they can also pull information from educational resources and other records in other to aid them in this process. Computers help to better communication in the medical field in a variety of ways. Without computers, communication would be less frequent, less personable, and more perplexing.

Surgical Procedures

Computer-Assisted Surgical Procedures are also referred to as Robotic Surgical Systems. More complex and involved surgeries not only utilize computers, but also rely on them in order to give faster and more precise products in any given medical procedure. Computers are used for tasks such as viewing internal organs, examining them, and moving surgical utensils around accurately in small incisions. Most surgeons use many different instruments with the robotic surgical system, these include:

scaplels forceps graspers dissectors cautery scissors retractors suction irrigators

The robotic-assisted surgical systems allow the surgeon to use computer technology to control and maneuver these surgical instruments during minimally invasive surgical procedures.

The computer-assisted surgical systems commonly include these three components: A console, the bedside cart, and a separate cart that contains supporting hardware and software. The first of these is the regulation center of the system and allows the surgeon to view his area of surgery and physically control his instruments. The second of these is the portion of the robot that holds the cameras and the instruments that the surgeon is controlling. And the third contains equipment such as the electrical surgical unit (ESU), a light source for the endoscope, and suction/irrigation pumps. As made evident, computers have become an essential piece in all types of surgical procedures and have increased the quality as well.