Technological risks to which doctors are exposed

2023-04-26 04:00:03

Patient care work offers many very great satisfactions. Every day you can see the recovery of people and when they thank you for your work you know that it is worth all the effort. Although it cannot be overlooked that there are various adversities that you must face and that go beyond stress and fatigue. In recent times, technological risks have increased because they are associated with the use of innovations that have become common in hospitals.

In this sense, health professionals should not only take care of getting infected when caring for patients or when giving an injection, but also in other ways. The simple fact of using a device with internet or state-of-the-art equipment also requires special attention. Otherwise you put your integrity and that of your patients at risk.

What are the most common today?

Within the list of technological risks to which you are vulnerable, there is one that is currently quite common and it is possible that you have been a victim without realizing it. Its about ransomwarewhich is defined as programs that infiltrate a network and spread through devices connected via the Internet.

When used maliciously it results in a kind of information hijacking. Cybercriminals often demand payment of a certain amount of money in exchange for not disclosing data that could be sensitive.

It is a fairly serious problem that is on the rise and in recent years the health sector has been victim of this modality. Through this data theft, personal information of patients has been obtained and that represents a serious crime.

Then there are poorly configured alarm systems. Software that notifies professionals of relevant alerts through medical devices or smartphones is a good tool, but configuration or handling problems can lead to delays or failures in the distribution of alarms.

Similarly, among the technological risks to which doctors are exposed are the active electrode pencils of the electrosurgical unit. When they are not securely covered they can cause various consequences. Among the most severe are burns on the patient or even fires if they come into contact with other objects.

To the list is added another one that has been around for decades but is still happening today. This is radiation exposure due to unnecessary use of diagnostic imaging tools. Furthermore, devices that can reduce or control exposure are often not used to their full advantage.

Finally, within the technological risks that you may face for carrying out your work is the inadequate cleaning of medical devices. It seems something too simple but when that happens it causes a malfunction that affects health professionals.