Supervisors info:
Γρηγόριος Χονδροκούκης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Βιομηχανικής Διοίκησης και Τεχνολογίας, ΠΠ
Δημήτριος Καραλέκας, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Βιομηχανικής Διοίκησης και Τεχνολογίας, ΠΠ
Ιωάννης Γιαννατσής, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Βιομηχανικής Διοίκησης και Τεχνολογίας, ΠΠ
Summary:
Introduction: Healthcare sector continues to face numerous challenges, including increasing demand for improved service quality in order to remain competitive accompanied with the minimum health spending as possible. To achieve quality improvement and make the stay at the hospital more sustainable and cost effective for the patient, there is a global trend toward exploiting the potential of new technologies to enhance the quality and safety of health care. Implementation of new technologies are accompanied by multiple benefits as they lead to positive health outcomes of individuals and also lead to improved performance of health care providers, offering improved quality and cost savings. In this thesis, we study three main kinds of technology (MRI, CT/ PET-CT scan and Robotic surgeries) and we come to conclusions about the contribution of them in quality improvement during hospitalization.
Purpose: The purpose of this diploma thesis is to systematically review the already published literature and explore the potential impact of new technologies on the quality of health care during the stay at the hospital.
Methodology: A review of the literature, written in the English language, was carried out on PubMed for the period of January 2010 to December 2019. The eligibility criteria for study inclusion were developed by using the acronym PICOS. The initial search resulted in 5279 articles, followed by restrictions on the type of studies (clinical trials, comperative studies, randomized controlled trials), the availability of the text of the articles (free full-text availability), the date of publication (01/01/2010 – 30/12/2019) and the reference population (human species). The final sample consisted of 32 studies.
Results: This study showed that the use of various applications of medical technology in the healthcare sector, focused on the diagnostic and the therapeutic level, can significantly contribute to the healthcare improvement, in a cost- effective way to both, healthcare provider and user.
Conclusions: The majority of the studies conclude that technologies can contribute to meaningful and cost effective directed quality improvement in health care services. However, the biggest challenge lies in continuingly receiving feedback from the technology use and creating realistic expectations of what can be achieved through new technology, without neglecting the contribution of the human factor.
Keywords:
Health care services, Medical technology, Quality, Cost
