It was not until the 1950s that engineering technology was assimilated into the medical industry. A lot of people were dying due to diseases and medical conditions that could not yet be solved owing to poor equipment and insufficient knowledge. With the need to provide treatment for advanced and complex forms of medical conditions, medical practitioners begun using engineered equipment to diagnose and treat patients.
This journey is best explained by the work of Ross and others in the article ‘A brief history of health systems engineering - its early years through 1989: An industrial engineering perspective.’ The authors describe in detail how engineers begun developing medical equipment for diagnosis. This included, for instance, the use of radiations and miniature cameras for internal organ examination. With a growing industry in the field fueled by the realization that there would always be people suffering from diseases that need advanced equipment for treatment, a health systems engineering society (HSE) was developed whose main goal was the production of medical equipment. The article describes to a great extent how this revolution occurred including the fueling factors. As more professionals delved into the field of HSE, the healthcare industry became an integrated society of many professionals ranging from management engineering and information systems (Ross et. al, 2014).
In the contemporary society, there is sufficient knowledge that provides the healthcare systems with enough equipment for use in medical treatment. However, as outlined by Xie and others in his article ‘A systematic review of human factors and ergonomics (HFE)-based healthcare system redesign for the quality of care and patient safety,’ the efficiency of engineering systems in the medical industry is still a challenge. Engineers are now faced with the task of improving medical equipment to provide quality, safe and efficient healthcare to patients with the least side effects (Xie et. al, 2014). A good example, for instance, is the x-ray radiation applications. They are used to diagnose various defects in the human body. X-rays are often absorbed by the body making them harmful whenever they reach a certain amount. However, modern technology has brought about the use of Medical Imaging Resonance where they can easily develop images of the human body without exposing the patient to dangerous radiations.
According to the authors, this is fuelled by a new study known as ergonomics where the comfortability of the patient is assessed to determine the effectiveness of the engineering system.
This led to the development of Human Factor Ergonomics based healthcare system, a revolutionized form of healthcare improvement incorporating the use of three core principles. This include systems approach, design-driven approach and the focus on both system performance and wellbeing (Xie et. al, 2014).
The two articles give a standard view of how the vast medical industry has advanced regarding technology. With the first article describing how people begun incorporating technology into the medical industry, and then the second article focusing on how health system engineers are rethinking the use of engineering systems in the health industry. This combination gives an excellent critique of the changes in the industry that led to the modern equipment. They are also a good source of information on how technology developed and what factors influenced its advancement. The articles are written for use by professionals. This is because of how technical they define ideas. They are a good reading and research material for anyone willing to study how medical disciplines such as biomedical engineering developed over the ages.
References
Ross, B. T., & Bidanda, B. (2014). A brief history of health systems engineering - its early years through 1989: An industrial engineering perspective. IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering, 4(4), 217-229.
Xie, A., & Carayon, P. (2014). A systematic review of human factors and ergonomics (HFE)-based healthcare system redesign for the quality of care and patient safety. Ergonomics, 58(1), 33-49.
