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Medical technology has advanced tremendously in the past several decades. With the advent of computerization, many of the tools that surgeons used in the operating room have now been given a whole new layer of efficiency, accuracy and safety. The following six medical devices are essential tools that today’s surgeons employ in their efforts to save patient lives. While some of these devices employ the latest, state of the art medical technology, some are still fairly basic. All of them, however, play a crucial role in the operating room.

Although it appears as though there are many different brands of medical equipment, most are actually held under the umbrella of a few larger corporations. It is true that there are various medical equipment manufacturers, however the majority of this multi-billion dollar industry is held by a select few. Here is a list of the five major medical equipment manufacturing industry players:

1.    Medtronic, Inc.

Medical technology has made immense leaps in the past century, especially with the advent of computer technology. Thanks to these rapid medical equipment advances, doctors today can conduct procedures that were not thought possible in the past. Advancements in medical technology, however, are not cheap. The latest in cutting edge medical equipment tends to be pricey and often out of the budget range of many new medical practices. Even equipment that might not be technologically revolutionary, but is nonetheless essential (e.g.

Electrocardiogram (EKG) tests help doctors identify and diagnose present or past heart abnormalities. For those with a history of heart disease or anyone over 40, they are an important part of any doctor visit. Electrodes attached to strategic locations on the patient’s body measure the heart’s electrical impulses which are displayed on a computer monitor and then printed. Physicians then take the resulting data to interpret the health of the heart in an effort to identify and circumvent heart disease.

Make no mistake about it. The conversion to electronic medical records will revolutionize the medical community, increasing the access to information on a universal scale that will improve healthcare and communication. At the same time, however, these changes are monumental, posing enormous costs to hospitals who struggle to make the change. However, as the need echoes throughout Washington and the medical community, increasing supplies to meet the demand will push costs down to make the conversion more affordable. Moreover, the switch is inevitable.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 sets aside about $19 billion for physicians to adapt electronic medical records, revolutionizing the field of medicine by putting the entire nation on the same medical page, or more aptly, computer screen. What are medical records and the issues involved?

Electronic Medical Records Cut Costs and Improve Care by  Universalizing Medical Information