Healthcare Management Technology; Place of Design process and role of the universities
Résumé
Traditionally, new developments in medical technology were initiated and extended by clinicians as well as by the medical industry. Nowadays, rapid introduction of a new technology without through clinical evaluation of the benefits in terms of quality of care is met with skepticism and doubts. Healthcare technology has become an increasingly visible policy issue, and healthcare technology management (HTM) strategies have repeatedly come under the spotlight in recent years. While the need for improved HTM practice has long been recognized and addressed at numerous international forums, health facilities in many countries are still burdened with many problems, including nonfunctioning medical equipment. This article introduces what seems to be overlooked in HTM cycle and provide some propositions about how can perform it and by whom. The design process in medical industry is discussed and main approaches are reviewed. Following, the introduction of the design process to HTM cycle is proposed and the role of the universities to carry out the domain integration and user integration into the technology cycle is discussed by reviewing tow examples of two European universities.