There have been many technological advances in all areas of society throughout time in Pennsylvania. It is sometimes amazing to look back and see all the developments even within even the last 20 years. These technological advances have made life much more convenient in many aspects of life. The amount of information and things people are able to do with their phones and how people are able shop have made life much more convenient. However, there are also adverse effects as well such as identity theft, This is now much easier and many people have been affected by it.
Technology advances go beyond simply one’s personal life. There have been many advances in the medical field as well. Hospitals and clinics are able to use new technology to do a number of different tasks. One of these tasks is the administration of medication. Hospitals now use computerized prescribers to administer the medication. Basically a medical professional inputs the information about when and how much of a medication to administer and the machine does the work after that.
This makes life much easier and saves time, but like other technologies there are adverse effects. A recent study found that in a six-month span medical facilities reported 889 medication errors. These included missed does, extra doses, wrong doses or too much of a medication at any given time. Some of these are input errors and some are errors within the machine. Not all of these led to adverse medical consequences for the patients, but many experienced problems.
People in Pennsylvania may not like having to go to the doctor, but when they do they expect things to go well and that they will leave better off than when they arrived. To help ensure this and improve the process, hospitals now use much more technology which includes giving medication to patients. If there is an error though, the patient could be harmed. These can also be very costly for the patient, but they may be entitled to compensation through a medical malpractice lawsuit. These are very complicated though and experienced attorneys may be a useful resource.
Source: Patient Safety Authority, “Authority Analyzes Medication Errors in Pennsylvania Associated with Health Information Technology” accessed on Nov. 27, 2017
