1.1 Health Technology (HT)
Technology
is the hands-on application of knowledge, ideas, believes, and thoughts. Health technology (HT) is the hands-on application of knowledge, ideas, believes and thoughts to improve or sustain individual and population health. World Health Organization (2021) defines “A health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives”.
In England, the terms “health technology” defined broadly as “Health technology encompasses not only drugs and devices but also procedures and care across the whole spectrum of medical, nursing, and health practice and all methods used by health professionals to promote health, prevent and treat disease, and improve rehabilitation and long-term care” (Woolf & Henshall, 2000). Technologies plays in important role in the health system and ranges from machineries to linguistic and intellectual tools. Health technologies means “drugs, devices, and medical and surgical processes used in medical care and the organizational and supportive structures within which such care is provided”. As the health care system encompasses more than medical care health technologies, hence, it may take in the wide range of interventions utilized in treatment, diagnosis, health promotion, and other interventions implemented for enhancing the performance of the health care system, thus finally the overall health of a population (Garrido, Gerhardus, Røttingen, & Busse, 2010). The notion of heath technology includes almost all the tools that health-care systems and public health are based on (de Waure & Favaretti, 2020):
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Diagnosis and treatment methods
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Medical equipment
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Pharmaceuticals
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Rehabilitation and prevention methods
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Organizational and supportive systems within which health care is provided.
According to Goodman (2004), there are three ways to define and describe health technology that include its physical nature, its purpose, and its stage of diffusion.
1.1.1 Physical Nature
Many people thought the ‘technology term’ mainly means mechanical equipment, devices, apparatus or instruments. Some people thought that technology is a concise form of ‘information and communication technology (ICT)’, for example computers, software, networking, and other tools and methods to manage information. Though, the hands-on application of knowledge and ideas in health care is pretty massive, the main independent categories of HT include the following.
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Medicines: For example, paracetamol tables, antibiotics, chemotherapy etc.
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Biological: For example, vaccines, cellular and gene therapies, blood and plasma derived medical products etc.
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Devices, instruments, equipment, apparatus and supplies: For example, X-Ray machine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, surgical gloves and masks, diagnostic test kits etc.
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Medical and surgical procedures: For example, psychotherapy, nutrition counseling, coronary angiography, tumor cell surgery, gall bladder removal, gastric bypass and weight-loss surgeries etc.
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Health support systems: For example, clinical laboratory, e-health record system, telemedicine systems, blood bank, e-blood donor search system etc.
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Public health and awareness programs: For example, smoking prevention program, drug addiction prevention program, water purification system, immunization program etc.
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Organizational, controlling and managerial systems: For example, medication adherence program, alternative health care delivery configurations, prospective payment via diagnosis-related groups etc.
1.1.2 Purpose or Application
Technologies can also be clustered according to their need or purpose in health care. These are listed below.
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Prevention: It includes prevention of the disease occurrence, risk reduction of disease occurrence. For instance, immunization program, hospital infection control program, and fluoridated water supply etc.
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Diagnosis: It identifies the reason and nature or extent of disease in an individual with clinical signs or symptoms. For instance, electrocardiogram, serological test for typhoid, x-ray for possible broken bone etc.
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Screening: It detects a disease, abnormality, or related risk factors in asymptomatic people. For instance, tuberculin test, serum cholesterol test, screening mammography etc.
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Rehabilitation: It restores, maintains or improves a physically or mentally disabled individual’s function and well-being. For instance, assistive device for severe speech impairment, exercise program for post-stroke patients, incontinence aid etc.
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Treatment: It improves or maintains health status or avoids further deterioration. For instance, antiviral therapy, psychotherapy, coronary artery bypass graft surgery etc.
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Palliation: It improves the quality of life of patients, mainly for relief of discomfort, symptoms, pain, distress, and stress of serious illness, besides psychological, social, and spiritual problems. For instance, medication for depression or insomnia, patient-controlled analgesia, caregiver support etc.
1.1.3 Stage of Diffusion
In several stages of diffusion and maturity, any technology can be assessed. Generally, health technologies may be described as following.
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Future: in a conceptual and theoretical stage, predicted, or in the primary stages of development.
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Experimental: go through bench or laboratory testing by means of animals or other models.
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Investigational: go through preliminary clinical (i.e., in humans) evaluation for a specific condition or indication.
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Established: considered by clinicians to be a standard methodology to a specific condition or indication and diffused into common use.
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Obsolete/outmoded/abandoned: outdated by other technologies or confirmed to be ineffective or unsafe.