Search

How health care should be reformed to address the current economic pressures and deliver a better future.

Objective: To highlight the role of technology in the practice of medicine and the delivery of health care in public hospitals, the problems encountered and suggested solutions., Design: The article reviews the process of technology planning, acquisition, management and assessment. Analysis of results and observations leads to recommendation and suggestions., Setting: Health care technology assessment in hospitals in Kenya and South Africa 1998. INSTITUTIONS: Twenty four hospitals in Kenya and 54 hospitals in South Africa., Results: Technology assessment as a health policy instrument and planning tool has not gained recognition in Kenya; acquisition of health care equipment is not done on the basis of evidence from relative advantage outcome, cost of ownership or returns on investment; tender boards lack the technical expertise to make clinical and technical evaluations of health care equipment and; health care is compromised due to poor equipment acquisition., Conclusion: The planning, deployment, management and assessment of technology should be fully integrated into health policy and planning. Policy guidelines should include the regulation, control and utilisation of health care technologies.

This paper outlines and discusses the field of medical technology assessment and the role of the Australian Health Technology Advisory Committee (AHTAC) in that process. Developments in medical technologies have altered the way in which health care is practised and delivered. The policy task is a complex one; attempting to balance the need for cost containment whilst at the same time ensuring that the processes of innovation into Australia, and diffusion occur in a manner which maximises the benefit and minimises any harm to the Australian community.

This paper discusses technology in relation to nursing practice development in order to demonstrate the need to apprehend nursing within the context of technological advancement. Issues pertinent to formulating an understanding of technology are reviewed and four common approaches to the definition of technology within the domain of nursing are critiqued. The purpose of the paper is to analyse issues relevant to defining technology, and to make obvious the limitations of current nursing literature.