Guidebook Tackles Convergence of Medical Devices and IT

To help healthcare information technology (IT) professionals better understand IT-intensive medical equipment, an independent organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care has released a new reference book.

IT professionals in healthcare are now confronting a new challenge: the convergence of information technology and medical devices. As rapid development in technology obscure the boundary between medical devices and computers, IT professionals must deal not only with mission-critical IT systems but also with life-critical medical devices. Infusion pumps include microchips that store vital patient data that must then be transmitted accurately across hospital networks, for example, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices now threaten to interfere with the proper functioning of medical equipment. Moreover, the list of IT-intensive medical devices grows daily.

The ECRI Institute (Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA), an independent nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, has released the new reference book, called Medical Technology for the IT Professional: An Essential Guide for Working in Today's Healthcare Setting.

With over US$19 billion appropriated for healthcare IT in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, jobs in this sector are expected to grow significantly over the next several years. ECRI Institute's new guide will provide those interested in changing careers from other IT professions to healthcare IT with the extra information they will need to enter this exciting-yet very competitive-profession.

James P. Keller, Jr., MS, vice president, Health Technology Evaluation and Safety, ECRI Institute, explained, "Because more and more medical devices are computer-based, hospital IT departments are increasingly being drawn into medical device issues. In some cases, IT departments have assumed full responsibility for procurement and support of IT-based medical devices. These new responsibilities require IT professionals to have a fundamental understanding of these medical devices. Our guidebook provides that fundamental knowledge.”

ECRI Institute's new comprehensive resource covers medical technologies that are heavily IT-based or highly integrated into IT infrastructures. It examines medical-device-related security and patient safety concerns to allow IT professionals to effectively contribute to their hospitals' efforts to support, acquire, and implement IT-based medical technologies.

Eight of the book's 10 chapters examine specific medical technologies, such as physiologic monitors, clinical laboratory analyzers, and imaging systems. Illustrations and precise language allow the reader to more fully understand components and functions behind technologies such as infusion pumps and RFID.

ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization, is focused on bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes are best to improve patient care. ECRI Institute combines experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. ECRI Institute is designated a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland) and an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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