While economic forces continue to shape health care, another external factor that is rising in influence is the growth of electronic data processing and communications.
Health care systems are establishing enterprise-wide data processing, storage, and transfer, and are bringing complex clinical systems on line.
In tomorrow’s environment, information management will continue to play a wider role in the management of health care and its cost and therefore will shape many aspects of equipment design and technology management.
The implementation of smarter technology in clinical equipment, as well as distributed technologies such as telemedicine and remote diagnosis, will create new applications for clinical engineers in terms of deployment, economics, efficacy, and security