Technology is a driving force in improving and enhancing healthcare, with advanced electronics integral to many medical developments. Today, medical improvements go beyond the pill. Electronic solutions are now imperative to improving the population’s health and wellbeing. Jay Tourigny at MicroCare Medical discusses how medical device manufacturers must ensure that their products are produced efficiently to meet the required time to market, whilst guaranteeing long-term performance and reliability.
Extract:
‘Beyond the Pill – Why Reliable Electronics is Key to Healthcare’
Technology is a driving force in improving and enhancing healthcare, with advanced electronics integral to many medical developments. Today, medical improvements go beyond the pill. Electronic solutions are now imperative to improving the population’s health and wellbeing.
Medical electronics is exponentially escalating with the electronics market estimated to be worth USD 6.3 billion in 2021 and projected to reach USD 8.8 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 6.9%. This is due to our ageing population and increased life expectancy. The increasing widescale adoption of electronics in all areas of the healthcare sector is also adding to the growth.
Electronics are fundamental to medical devices from simple remote patient monitoring (RPM), like digital scales to sophisticated in-hospital devices, such as ECG monitors and surgical control panels. They are also used within implantables like cardioverter-defibrillator and Medtech devices which assist the dispensing of pharmaceutical products. Let’s also not forget about the increasing mHealth culture. MHealth, or mobile health, is the use of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. This can include disease and epidemic outbreak tracking to chronic disease management, all of which require electronics to power.
This growing demand calls for extremely complex electronics with more functions and increased portability. Printed Circuit Boards Assemblies (PCBAs) must be smaller and lighter but still contain the circuitry required to power these highly technical medical devices. The problem, however, is that the smaller and more densely packed PCBAs are more difficult to produce and to maintain quality. Add to this the need for the rapid escalation in the production and the problem of maintaining consistency increases. Medical device manufacturers must ensure that their products are produced efficiently to meet the required time to market, whilst guaranteeing long-term performance and reliability.
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