Technology has long played a crucial part in medicine. Whether it’s the development of the microscope back in the 17th-century or the development of any number of surgical tools, the health industry wouldn’t be what it is today without constant innovations in the field.
Developments today promise to take things an exciting step further. Here are some of the most fascinating examples of health technology that may well shape the medical industry of the future.
1. Virtual patients and video games
Developing technologies aimed at curing patients is incredibly important, but so is the need for developing new methods for training doctors. Virtual patients, it turns out, will be a big part of this.
Companies like Cyber Patient are already providing virtual medical training. Essentially, Cyber Patient takes the concept of the flight simulator into the medical realm. While the simulations might not be as detailed as state-of-the-art flight simulators today the platform, and others like it, will only improve. 00:35 / 01:00TOP ARTICLES1/513 Facts about the Deadly Vajont Dam EngineeringDisaster
Levelex, meanwhile, creates videogames that help training doctors to experience real-life situations in a virtual setting. There’s no doubt that the simulation of medical situations in the virtual world will be a huge part of the medical practice in the future.
2. Bleeding robots
Digital simulations aren’t the only futuristic methods being developed for training doctors. As Gaumard VP Jim Archetto recently told Fast Company, “learners need to learn in their own environment.” In other words, the virtual world might not be enough.
That’s why Gaumard is building robots for medical training. These, impressively, include robots that give birth, robots with traumatic brain injuries, and robots with infected limbs and even gunshot wounds. They even call one of their robots Pediatric HAL — let’s hope it doesn’t take after Stanley Kubrick’s famous AI character from 2001: A Space Odyssey.