Medical Research and its Impact on Healthcare Design - the ...

HEALTH MEDICAL FACILITY RESEARCH AND ITS IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE DESIGNtypes of medical disorders. This means e.g. thatsmall numbers of difficult <strong>and</strong> advanced surgicaloperations are performed at a large numberof smaller hospitals on the municipal level bysurgeons with limited experience of that kindof surgery <strong>and</strong> that high-technology diagnostic<strong>and</strong> therapeutic techniques are introduced athigh costs in hospitals where they will be usedrarely by inexperienced personal.In order to get a high quality in the utilisationof these new <strong>and</strong> advanced technologiesthey must be concentrated to larger centres ofexperts at the regional-/university-hospital level,where a large number of diagnostic examinationsare performed <strong>and</strong> where R&D is a partof the daily use of these technologies. To theseexpert centres are concentrated diagnostic techniquesrequiring heavy, expensive high-technologyequipment <strong>and</strong> a cadre of specially-trainedphysicians <strong>and</strong> nurses <strong>and</strong> therapeutic methodsinvolving large, complicated operations <strong>and</strong>“aggressive” treatments. Since the classical borderlinesbetween different diagnostic laboratorydisciplines are gradually being more <strong>and</strong> moreunsharp, conditions are created for diagnosticcentres where radiology, clinical chemistry, histopathology,clinical physiology <strong>and</strong> clinical microbiologycan be integrated. These hospitalsshould in turn serve as nodes in an integratednetwork of different hospitals, primary- carecentres <strong>and</strong> nursing institutions which are localisedclose to the patients as outlined in the figurebelow.By doing this problems with investments innew expensive equipment <strong>and</strong> personal competence,can be h<strong>and</strong>led in a more cost-effectiveway.The new possibilities to transfer largeamounts of qualified information over longdistances <strong>and</strong> analyse <strong>and</strong> store it on other placesthan where it was generated will have a greatimpact on the future structure of the healthcareorganisation, since it will make it possibleto move the desirable diagnostic <strong>and</strong> therapeuticcompetence to the patient instead of viceversa.ConclusionsThus, the scientific achievements in medicine<strong>and</strong> information technologies have created conditionsfor a new healthcare structure with:48 (IADH) International Academy for Design <strong>and</strong> Health