Almost anyone who lives in a first world country owns a smartphone and uses some type of technology in their everyday lives. Technology plays a big role today, whether it be for a primary source of communication or for performing tasks at work. New technological innovations are being brought into existence more and more every day. One of the largest industries that is involved in the use of new technological innovations is the healthcare industry. Hospitals and doctors’ offices are constantly purchasing new forms of equipment and testing the newest technologies. Technology can be helpful in performing many tasks and have a positive impact, but can also cause harm and have a negative impact if abused or used improperly. “Eighty-six percent of operating room nurses have reported using smartphones and more advanced technology in the operating room for professional purposes. Many researchers argue that the use of mobile devices and higher advanced technologies in operating rooms increase efficiency of communication, minimize research of information, and minimize medical errors.” (Sergeeva, Anastasia, Kjeld Aij, Bart van den Hooff, and Huysman 1101-1110.) However, there are also many concerns regarding the use of mobile devices and higher advanced technology in operating rooms. Mobile devices and new technological innovations can have a negative impact on hospitals and doctors’ offices, because they can be a major distraction, take focus away from the main priority, which is proper care for patients, and be quite costly, causing patients to turn to an alternative such as medical diagnosing websites.

Cellphone use is not restricted in operating rooms, but there are many concerns regarding this issue. The use of mobile devices in operating rooms leads to distraction and can cause errors with patients. “In 2011, a Texas Anesthesiologist was accused of being on his mobile device and sending emails while he was supposed to be monitoring a patient.” (Luthra 13.) “The patients’ oxygen level dropped, which the anesthesiologist was unaware of for over twenty minutes, and the patient died in surgery.” (Luthra 13.) Another incident involves a six-year old boys’ temperature rising to 107.6 degrees due to a nurse texting a few of her friends, and being focused on the computer screen more than monitoring the little boy. “The little boy was brought to the emergency room with a body temperature of 89.4 degrees. The average normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees. He was given a blanket-type warming device called a Bair Hugger. The policy of the medical center for temperatures of patients being placed under such heating or cooling devices stated that the device must be checked and recorded at least every two hours. The health department concluded the child’s temperature was checked and recorded at acceptable intervals until 12:14 A.M, when it was 98 degrees. After this recording of the child’s temperature, his temperature was not recorded again for more than ten hours. Moments later, his temperature rose to 107.6 degrees, and a physician determined the heating device had been on high all night, according to the health department report.” (Burns 1.) “In this case, the medical staff admitted to the policy that was put into effect on the Bair Hugger, and admitted to the fact that the nurse on duty was distracted from properly monitoring the little boys’ temperature.” (Burns 1.) This incident took place all because a nurse was distracted by text messages from several of her friends and a computer screen. “There have been numerous interviews and surveys where operating room nurses have reported coworkers texting family members while working in the operating room. Some nurses also spoke of workers hiding cell phones in drawers and checking them while they were supposed to be monitoring patients.” (Luthra 13.) Hospitals and doctors’ offices, hoping to decrease medical error, have invested heavily to put computers, smart phones, and other devices into the hands of medical staff for instant access to patient data, drug information, and case studies. But like many cures, this solution came with an unintended side effect: “doctors and nurses can be focused more on the screen and not the patient, even during moments of critical care.” (Luthra 13.) Examples include personal calls during operations, nurses checking airfare during surgery, and polls showing that half of technicians running bypass machines had admitted to texting during procedures. 

According to recent studies, “we are a techno consumptive culture.” (Deyo and Patrick 13.) Surgeons, doctors, and nurses are pulled irresistibly to new technology, often without recognizing the risks. A handful of medical professionals believe “newer is always better.” (Deyo and Patrick 9.) When talking about medical technology, experts are referring to new tests, surgical procedures, medical devices, diagnostic tests, assistive devices, and even lifestyle change strategies, not just electronic gadgets. Many medical doctors and professionals tend to believe that more advanced technology is almost a requirement to have overall successful results, which has a major influence on the opinions of patients and others who work in the healthcare industry. Focusing on having the newest technologies is a major issue in hospitals and doctors’ offices. Hospitals feel as though they are in competition with other hospitals, so having the most up-to-date technologies is almost a priority. 

This leads to the next reason as to why new technological innovations have a negative impact in hospitals and doctors’ offices. Having the newest or most up-to-date technologies is not what is best for patients and should not be the focus. However, giving them the proper care they need should be the number one priority. “Many tend to think that the newest forms of technology are more effective than conservative technology. In a study of higher technological care versus more conservative technological care, the higher technological care was correlated with a higher death rate.” (Deyo and Patrick 13.)  One example of a new technological innovation is the Bluetooth RS232 serial adapter. “The processing power, display resolution, storage capacity and connectivity of the Bluetooth RS232 serial adapter is so grand that they can pair anesthesia monitors to mobile devices such as androids or iPads to transfer data from the anesthesia monitor to the mobile device.” (Pybus 785-790.) This process allows data acquisition, data display, and data recording. Although this adapter is an efficient tool for hospitals there have been several issues with the operation of the adapter. There have been many errors with the transferring of data from anesthesia monitors to mobile devices. It’s safe to say that recording data by hand is a more reliable way to eliminate errors in the transferring of data. Focusing on having the most up-to-date technologies instead of focusing on proper care for patients is one of the major reasons why higher advanced technologies are unsuccessful and have a negative impact on the healthcare industry.

 Technology in hospitals plays a role in patient registration, data monitoring, lab-tests, and self-care tools. Dr. Rasu Shrestha, Vice President of medical information technology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, claimed that hospitals can use technology to promote a modern, patient focused approach to healthcare. “Another technological innovation in hospitals includes hospital beds encompassing information as varied as a patients’ heart rate and dietary restrictions, to vast stores of data that will help predict how they will respond to treatments.” (Dance 13.) Again, although this innovation is an efficient tool for hospitals there have been several errors while running tests on this new bed. There have been incidents where the wrong heart rate was given and situations where the dietary restrictions of one patient was mixed with another patients’ dietary restrictions. Another complication includes the wrong prediction being made by the bed when referring to how patients will respond to treatments. “Additionally, surgical robots have been created to perform surgical procedures instead of real surgeons.” (“Tallying the Mistakes and Malfunctions of Robot Surgeons.”) There are reasons why medical students go through more than a decade of schooling and training to become a surgeon. Having robot surgeons is an unnecessary innovation that is just another way to make more money. “Also, these surgical robots have been proven to make several errors during surgical procedures leading to a long road to recovery for patients and sometimes even death.” (“Tallying the Mistakes and Malfunctions of Robot Surgeons.”) “From 2007 to 2013, 1.74 million procedures were carried out by surgical robots, 86% of which were related to urology and gynecology. Of those, the study looked at reports of "adverse events," which were sent to the FDA. In that time, there were 144 deaths, 1,391 patient injuries, and 8,061 device malfunctions. The malfunctions included "falling of burnt/broken pieces of instruments into the patient (14.7%), electrical arcing of instruments (10.5%), unintended operation of instruments (8.6%), system errors (5%), and video/imaging problems (2.6%). The more complicated surgeries involving vital organs were naturally the most dangerous. Head and neck surgeries accounted for 19.7% of all adverse results, and cardiothoracic procedures accounted for 6.4%.” (“Tallying the Mistakes and Malfunctions of Robot Surgeons.”) These statistics show how surgical robots are less reliable than real surgeons. These complications and errors support the fact that newer is not always better and more conservative technology is more reliable than some new, higher technological innovations.

The costliness of new technological innovations and more advanced equipment is completely unreasonable. “The amount spent represents about one-sixth of the U.S. gross domestic product; it continues to grow much faster than the economy; and it threatens the economic future of governments, businesses, and individuals called upon to foot the bill. Despite the outlay, more than 40 million people have no health insurance.” (Herzlinger 1.) Hospitals and doctors’ offices must pay for these innovations and equipment somehow. They do this simply by raising the cost of doctors’ appointments and visits to the emergency room. Co-payments also play an important factor in contributing to the purchasing of new technological innovations and more advanced equipment. These unreasonable prices do not affect some people who can afford expensive payments. However, there are many who cannot afford pricey appointments, so they turn to other alternatives. Instead of going to the doctor to look for answers, patients are now using websites like WebMD for self-diagnosis. “WebMD is the second most visited website on the entire web.” (This Popular "Independent" Health Website is Deceiving You.”) People are also using online chatting websites to communicate with doctors to receive a diagnosis and to receive answers about their situations. Going to the doctor the old-fashioned way is a better way to find answers, but can be entirely too expensive due to the recent rise in the cost of doctors’ appointments. 

Websites like WebMD should never be used to replace a physician. “Be wary of medical websites and blogs,” warned JoAnne Weiskopf, a surgical physician assistant at NYU Langone Medical Center, “The internet is not a crystal ball.” (“With Medical Websites, a Cough Is No Longer Just a Cough.”) The information from websites like WebMD is not always accurate or reliable. Most of all, it is not individualized for the patient.  Far too often, a simple ache can be misconstrued as something far more serious. Self-diagnosis is dangerous, and self-diagnosis can have tremendous negative repercussions on the patients. “For this reason, while reading is helpful and informative, it is always best to discuss impressions with a doctor before deciding on treatments.” (Pillay 1.) In many cases people will scare themselves into thinking something is wrong with them that isn’t. Some misdiagnose themselves and cause serious damage to their health and well-being. “For example, if one had insomnia, inattention and depression, he or she may believe that they have a sleeping disorder, ADD and major depression. However, major depression can account for these symptoms. Furthermore, you may make things worse by worrying more as well.” (Pillay 1.) Unfortunately, the internet provides a cheap and “easy” way to avoid going to the doctor. Using websites like WebMD for self-diagnosis also undermines the role of the doctor, which is not the best way to start the relationship. One PA from a major NYC hospital said that “Not only do patients get stubborn about what they read online, and what they think their diagnosis should be, but that WebMD perpetuates a whole lot of anxiety for patients.” (Fulton 1.) WebMD has a propensity for getting people worked up and overly-anxious by always displaying the worst possible scenarios for every symptom. 

The opposing side of this argument includes many people who are all for new technological innovations, even without considering the risks and effects. This relates to today’s society being a “techno consumptive society.” (Deyo and Patrick 13.)  Many people automatically assume just because something is new, it is better or more reliable than older models like it. Not all sources of higher advanced technology have a negative impact in hospitals, just those that are unnecessary, unreliable and a waste of money. Some sources of higher advanced technology are a necessity in the healthcare industry, but those that are not should be restricted or done away with. Doing away with these unnecessary advanced technologies will decrease the cost of doctors’ appointments and emergency room visits. This will also prevent people from turning to cheaper and easier alternatives such as websites like WebMD. There should also be stronger policies put into effect to prevent operating room nurses and medical personnel from being allowed to have access to their mobile devices while working. They should not be allowed to have them anywhere near patients or operating rooms. Policies like these will prevent distraction, and bring more focus in on the main priority, which is the proper care for patients.  
