Health Technology Assessment

Health technology assessment contributes to decision making in the health care sector. A HTA collects and assess existing knowledge about a given health technology. A health technology is defined broadly as procedures and methods for prevention, diagnostics, treatment, care and rehabilitation including devices and medicine. An example could be a new method to treat patients. Focus is on healthcare, patient, organisational and economical aspects. New research can be conducted if the number of sufficient studies is limited to elucidate one or more of these aspects. This report only has focus on the healthcare and economical aspects. The HTA results in a report that can contribute to better planning, quality enhancement and prioritizing in the health care sector. The target group is decision-makers in the health political field. The primary users are therefore administrations and politicians and other decision-makers in the health political field. HTA contributes to decisions within administration as well as political management as to which services should be offered in the health care sector and how they should be organized. Health technology assessment is defined as: HTA is a comprehensive systematic assessment of the prerequisites and consequences of applying a health technology HTA is a research-based, application-oriented assessment of relevant existing knowledge about problem areas applying a technology within the field of health and illness. HTA-reports are prepared in collaboration with an external interdisciplinary project group. The project group systematically reviews the existing literature, contributes with data collection and produces the chapters and conclusions of the report. The project management is placed at the National Board of Health who is also responsible for the editing of the final report. The report has been submitted to an external reference group.

REFERENCE: http://www.sst.dk/publ/Publ2011/DAKS/MTV/VentilationSystemsOperationsRoomsSummary.pdf

Reaction: Health technology assessment is important in the field of OR and medicine because it helps promote health and also prevent, diagnose and treat diseases or for rehabilitation or long-term care. This includes the pharmaceuticals, devices, procedures and organizational systems used in health care.It is to inform the development of safe, effective, health policies that are patient focused and seek to achieve best value as defined by decision makers.

Nursing: Operating Room/Procedural Care

Advanced care before, during and after surgeries and procedures
Operating room and procedural care nurses help patients through a variety of surgeries, as well as diagnostic and treatment procedures. Nurses provide services in these hospital areas: Gastroenterology/Endoscopy These nurses assist with the diagnosis of patients with gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions and their surgical procedures. Infusion/IV Therapy Nurses on the hospitals infusion and intravenous (IV) therapy teams specialize in the insertion and care of patient IVs and catheters. Our nurses also provide IV and catheter training for hospital staff, as well as students from the KU Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health. Inpatient/Outpatient Dialysis Our friendly and caring nurses work one-on-one with hospitalized and homebound patients who require dialysis treatments. Interventional Radiology During radiology procedures, this nursing staff provides care and routine monitoring of cardiac, neurosurgical, trauma and vascular surgery patients. Pre-Anesthesia Testing/Infusion Clinic These nurses help patients prepare for procedures and surgeries. They provide information, take medical histories, obtain lists of current medications, identify possible allergic and adverse reactions, and arrange for laboratory work, EKGs and other appointments as needed. Members of the Infusion Clinic team also perform patient assessments, take vital signs, do lab draws, start and administer IV medications, and then closely monitor patients for any adverse reactions. Operating Room/Same-Day Surgery/Post-Anesthesia Care Nurses play a critical role in many advanced and highly complex surgical procedures. These often use robotics, computer-enhanced imaging, video, fiber optics and other advanced technologies. This level of care for surgical patients demands teamwork, critical thinking and attention to detail. REFERENCE: http://www.kumed.com/careers/nursing/nursing-program/operating-procedural-care

Reaction: This article helps provide information about functions and tasks of nurses in the hospital. This is also to give specialized care to clients and for the patients to be aware of the different procedures performed in different areas in the hospital during the pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative phase.