Technology adoption in health care has accelerated, creating the need for a new kind of professional – one who can bridge the worlds of high tech and patient care.
In 2017, the Ontario Health Technologies Fund began providing grants for many cutting-edge technology projects to improve health care. One of these grants supported people recovering from cardiac or vascular surgery at home, through a new medical device that provided continuous vital-sign monitoring. The goal was to help these patients avoid serious post-surgery complications and returns to hospital.
That is but one example of how technology advances are disrupting traditions of health care delivery. From the operating rooms to community clinics, long-term care facilities and in patients' homes, new monitoring, diagnostic and treatment technologies are transforming patient care at a quickening pace.
As technology adoption has accelerated in the health system, the need for a new kind of professional has emerged – an expert who can bridge the worlds of high tech and patient care.
Durham College in southern Ontario has responded to this need by developing the Honours Bachelor of Health Care Technology Management (BHCTM) degree – the first program of its kind in Canada and only the second in North America.
"Our system has clinicians focused on patient care and experts who understand the technology, as well as equipment purchasers and administrators with budgets to manage. But there is a shortage of professionals that link everything together," says Rick Tidman, a medical device technology professor and coordinator of the new Durham program to start this fall.
"The future leaders in health care will be people with the interdisciplinary skills to understand what new equipment and devices can do, as well as the results the clinicians seek for their patients," he says.
Students in the BHCTM program will receive education in medical technology, life sciences and business practices, and will have opportunities for employment in hospitals and clinics, government agencies, independent service providers, medical equipment manufacturers, medical laboratories, regulatory authorities, and technical sales and support organizations.
Iris Ko is a former Ontario government executive with expertise in health technology procurement and innovation, and has advised the college as it has put together the groundbreaking program.
"Technology management is very complex, and we need experts who can look at a piece of equipment and ask: how does it work and for whom, is it safe and effective, and is it better than what we already have? And in our system with public dollars, does it provide value for money?" says Ms. Ko.
"These decisions are beyond technical assessment. We need professionals who understand the health system, policies and economics, and have the ability to communicate and collaborate."
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