NICK BROOKER, marketing manager of the SKF Actuation & Motion Control Division, takes a look at the way in which developments in industrial automation are helping health professionals to revolutionise patient care.
In the healthcare sector, however, the use of automation technology has been limited, finding application mainly in areas such as the production-line manufacture of medical equipment and in labour intensive and repetitive laboratory based micro-assay or other analysis processes.
In the frontline areas of hospitals and medical facilities, there has until recently been little widescale uptake in the use of automation or motion control devices, despite the extremely complex and sophisticated nature of many items of equipment and systems employed. As a technology or process, automation has much to offer hospital staff and patients alike, creating the opportunity to improve the functionality, ease of use and reliability of many different systems, from beds and couches to surgical equipment, scanners and imaging machines.
Perhaps as importantly, partial or full automation of medical systems linked to appropriate monitoring and control mechanisms can help to make tasks such as patient lifting or hoisting far simpler, while increasing the availability and operating life of equipment, often with a corresponding reduction in costs as maintenance intervals can either be extended or at least planned far more efficiently.
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