Care Technology (care + technology)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


INVESTMENT IN HOSPITAL CARE TECHNOLOGY UNDER DIFFERENT PURCHASING RULES: A REAL OPTION APPROACH

BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008
Rosella Levaggi
I11; D81 ABSTRACT Quality of health care is the product of several factors as the literature has long recognized. In this paper we focus on the relationship between quality and investment in health technology by analysing the optimal investment decision in a new health care technology of a representative hospital that maximizes its surplus in an uncertain environment. The new technology allows the hospital to increase the quality level of the care provided, but the investment is irreversible. The paper uses the framework of the real option literature to show how the purchaser might influence the quality level by setting a quality-contingent long-term contract with the hospital. The investment in new technology is in fact best incentivated within a long-term contract where the number of treatments reimbursed depends on the level of investment made when the technology is new. In this way, asymmetry of information does not affect the outcome of the contract. In our model in fact the purchaser can verify the level of the investment only at the end of each period but the purchasing rule has an anticipating effect on the decision to invest. [source]


Development of sonic technology for the daily cleansing of the skin

JOURNAL OF COSMETIC DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2006
Robert E Akridge PhD
Summary Even though many skin cleansing products are commercially available, the cleansing of the skin is dependent upon the user's diligence, compliance, and technique, which often results in inconsistent cleansing. When the skin is inadequately or excessively cleansed, the skin becomes compromised, sometimes leading to acute or chronic conditions that may require medical attention. A sonic skincare brush was developed to enhance and provide consistent skin cleansing while preventing the skin from becoming compromised. Utilizing a technology previously used to cleanse the oral cavity, the sonic skincare brush is optimized to work with the skin's own elasticity providing rapid oscillatory flexing of the infundibular opening. By oscillating at sonic speed the net result is the inelastic comedones become loosened and detached from the infundibular wall and are then cleared from the acroinfundibulum. Although additional clinical research into the various applications of sonic skin care technology is needed, utilization of sonic technology is now available for effectively and consistently cleansing the skin. [source]


Philosophy of technology and nursing

NURSING PHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2002
Alan Barnard RN BA MA PhD MRCNA
Abstract This paper outlines the background and significance of philosophy of technology as a focus of inquiry emerging within nursing scholarship and research. The thesis of the paper is that philosophy of technology and nursing is fundamental to discipline development and our role in enhancing health care. It is argued that we must further our responsibility and interest in critiquing current and future health care systems through philosophical inquiry into the experience, meaning and implications of technology. This paper locates nurses as important contributors to the use and integration of health care technology and identifies nursing as a discipline that can provide specific insights into the health experience(s) of individuals, cultures and societies. Nurses are encouraged to undertake further examination of epistemological, ontological and ethical challenges to arise from technology as a focus of philosophical inquiry. The advancement of philosophy of technology and nursing will make a profound contribution to inquiry into the experience of technology, the needs of humanity and the development of appropriate health care. [source]


INVESTMENT IN HOSPITAL CARE TECHNOLOGY UNDER DIFFERENT PURCHASING RULES: A REAL OPTION APPROACH

BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008
Rosella Levaggi
I11; D81 ABSTRACT Quality of health care is the product of several factors as the literature has long recognized. In this paper we focus on the relationship between quality and investment in health technology by analysing the optimal investment decision in a new health care technology of a representative hospital that maximizes its surplus in an uncertain environment. The new technology allows the hospital to increase the quality level of the care provided, but the investment is irreversible. The paper uses the framework of the real option literature to show how the purchaser might influence the quality level by setting a quality-contingent long-term contract with the hospital. The investment in new technology is in fact best incentivated within a long-term contract where the number of treatments reimbursed depends on the level of investment made when the technology is new. In this way, asymmetry of information does not affect the outcome of the contract. In our model in fact the purchaser can verify the level of the investment only at the end of each period but the purchasing rule has an anticipating effect on the decision to invest. [source]