1. The History
1.1. In 1929, German Scientist Hans Berger’s research on the Human brain and its activity was discovered to be closely link to the technology of Brain-Computer Interfaces. It is stated that Berger was “Credited with the development of electroencephalography, which was a major breakthrough for humans and helped researchers record human brain activity – the electroencephalogram (EEG). This was a major discovery in human brain mapping, which made it possible to detect brain diseases.” (Brain Vision UK, 2014. Para. 5).
1.1.1. The Current
1.1.1.1. As the years have past, the development of Brain-Computer Interfaces research has progressed rapidly. BCI research is currently making a significant impact in the healthcare system. For example, Stanford University conducted a research paper about Brain Computer Interfaces. In the article, it states the following: “…Investigators have demonstrated that brain-to-computer hook up can enable people with paralysis to type via direct brain control at the highest speeds and accuracy levels reported to date.” (Goldman, 2017). BCI is currently helping patients with communication, movement control, locomotion, environmental control, and neurorehabilitation.
1.1.1.1.1. The Future
1.2. In 1964, American-British Neurophysiologist, Dr. Grey Walter. According to Graimann, Allison, and Pfurtscheller (2010), he used the technology by connecting “electrodes directly to the motor areas of a patient’s brain. (The patient was undergoing surgery for other reasons). The patient was asked to press a button to advance a slide projector while Dr. Walter recorded the relevant brain activity…Unfortunately, Dr. Walter did not publish this major breakthrough. He only presented a talk about it to a group called the Ostler Society in London.”
2. Brain-Computer Interfaces also known as Mind Machine is a type of technological device that has been making an impact in society, especially in the healthcare system for the last five years. It works along with the signals of the brain to communicate to the device to direct the body to perform an activity that the user intends to do.
3. The Current
3.1. Doctors can already remotely control telepresence robots from a faraway office Robots will also increasingly transport medicines, supplies and even food around hospitals
3.2. Da Vinci Surgical Robot
3.3. Nanorobots
3.3.1. Nanorobots – on a much smaller scale, tiny robots will be able to travel through the bloodstream as well as will be able to monitor vital signs or even perform tiny surgeries
3.4. Phobot, PARO, NAO and Milo
3.4.1. – robots that play a role in pediatric therapy for autism disorders, phobias and as distractions
3.5. Tug
3.5.1. A robot who delivers food and medicine in hospitals. It picks up waste and laundry. It navigates the halls without crashing into people.
4. Ever thought about what the impact of advanced technology would look like in healthcare? Search no further, this mind map is designed to give you an in-depth glimpse of methods that are implemented, currently making their way into the healthcare sector and how they will influence and advance into the future.
5. Brain Interfaces
5.1. What?
6. Robotic Care
6.1. What?
6.2. Robot? Or Automation?
6.3. Automation includes robotic devices, robots that look like a human, and algorithms. If we look at the history of automation the first wave of machines in the 19th century was better at assembling things than people were. The second wave machines were better at organizing things. Today data analytics, cognitive computers, and self–driving cars suggest that they are better at pattern–recognition.
6.4. Robotic care have been in healthcare for quite some time now. While the technology has been developing all along, questions such as humanistic element as well as ethical issues are still concerns that need to be addressed, either outside of the technology, or to be built-in the process and mechanisms of robotic use in health care institutions.
7. The Future
7.1. It is projected that robot applications as stated above would have gone beyond their experimental stage and be used in a much larger scale worldwide in 2025. There are views that robots may take over the job of nurses and doctors, but these are controversial. Countering views suggest that humans are still superior at working with, and caring for others humans. Although, making a diagnosis is cheaper with cognitive computers than doing that alone as physicians. But whether a robot can make an ethical decision is a huge question. A more eclectic view is that Robots will CHANGE the roles of nurses, and maybe certain areas of works of doctors. Say for example, nurses can be freed from heavy, dirty and dangerous jobs and their roles will be to give their instructions to robots.
7.1.1. Robotic walking assistants that can “read” the road, utilized by those with vision impairments
7.1.2. Research on the kind of sensors and AI software that could be added to mattresses to provide a single control centre with real-time information on residents
7.1.3. DFree, a device that can sense and predict when residents need the toilet, saving dozens of unnecessary nurse visits to patients every day
7.1.4. Self-driving toilets that contain their own internal flushing mechanism and can move around nursing homes
8. 3-D printing is also known as many other names like additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, stereo lithography, architectural modeling. It is a manufacturing process that builds layers to create a three-dimensional solid object from a digital model. It’s a computer-aided design (CAD) program that creates digital models by slicing very thin cross-sections called layers. During this process it starts from the bottom of the design and works its way up till it is finished. With different printers being used there are also different materials that are used to build the layers. Some use liquid polymer, gel or even resin. 3D printing has created things from new toys; to motorcycle parts to manufacturing prototypes for testing purposes (Rouse, 2016).
8.1. History
8.1.1. - Insulin Injection
8.1.2. Charles Hull (2014) is the inventor of 3D printers, which was developed in 1984. He founded the company 3D Systems that developed its first printer called “stereo lithography apparatus”. Currently, the most common 3D printers are Laser Sintering (SLS), Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) printing and fused deposition modeling (FDM). In the past 3D printing was very expensive and only used by large corporations but with the development of desktop 3D printers, it became more accessible to small and mid-sized business and home users.
8.1.2.1. Successful Developments
8.1.2.2. 3D Printed Skin Graphs
8.1.2.2.1. 3D printed skin graphs was developed for burned victims and airways splints for babies (with tracheobronchomalacia) that make tiny airways around the lungs prone to collapsing
8.1.2.2.2. In 2015 the US Food and Drug Administration approved epilepsy drug Spritam (levetiracetam), the worlds first 3D-printed pill (Megget, 2016).
8.2. The Current
8.2.1. Although 3D printing has been around since 1984, it’s become very popular in the recent years. It has helped in healthcare by reducing cost and increasing productivity. Currently, the use of 3D printing has produced such things like bones, ears, exoskeletons, windpipes, a jaw bone, stem cells, blood vessels, vascular networks, tissue and organs, as well as novel dosage forms and drug delivery devices. There are many 3D-printed medical solutions that are still in the experimental stages and so far looking promising.
8.2.1.1. It is estimated in less than 20 years it’s expected to print a fully functioning printable heart. With the challenges in printing vascular networks, the printing of organs is still long ways away but the progressions so far are up-and-coming. With the advance technology, it’s expected that heterogeneous tissues like liver and kidney tissues will be successfully fabricated. Other possibilities with this are being able to make viable live implants, printed tissues and organs models that will help in drug discovery (Ventola, 2015).
8.2.1.1.1. Heart
8.2.1.2. Research Phase Developement
8.2.1.3. Bionic Ears
8.2.1.3.1. At Princeton University they used 3D printing to create bionic ears that can hear radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capacity. They combined electronics and tissues (Hendrick, 2016).
9. Needle Free Diabetes Care
9.1. What?
9.2. Needle free diabetes care is a type of technology that creates a pain free blood glucose reading to be made possible by a variety of devices in the diabetic care field. This is made possible by two emerging methods, the first being a glass to skin contact device that utilizes a sensor to read glucose levels and secondly a high jet pressure injection utilizing traditional injection methods only pain free and bacteria free.
9.2.1. The Current
9.2.1.1. Today the current state of diabetes care is vastly done through the traditional method of needle injections, only in countries such as North America and Europe where healthcare has entered early advancement stages in this field do you find needle free injection and sensor glucose level readings. A large part of this advancement starts began in the mid 2000’s, to my belief to offer the people who suffer from diabetes more specifically the older generation a pain free way of injection.
9.2.1.1.1. The Future
9.2.1.2. According to a recent article of September 2017 by CBS the very first FDA approved monitoring device has been approved to be released for public using. This is the first device of it’s kind to be approved for public offering and foreshadows a huge potential for one of the new ways diabetes care is being innovative.
9.2.1.2.1. FDA approves first blood sugar monitor without finger prick
9.3. Glass Glucose Monitor
9.3.1. Needle Free Injection
9.3.1.1. Current Available Treaments
9.3.1.2. - Healthy Eating
9.3.1.3. - Regular Exercise