Medical devices for the home top list of health tech hazards for 2024 (1 February 2024)

Summary

More health systems and hospitals are looking to expand options to care for patients at home, but a new report points to some obstacles that threaten the safety of patients.

ECRI, a nonprofit organisation focused on patient safety, released its annual list of the 10 leading healthcare technology hazards Wednesday. Safety challenges involving medical devices at home topped the 2024 list of technology trouble spots. ECRI also cites other challenges, including poor instruction in cleaning medical devices, sterile drug compounding, the insufficient governance of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and cybersecurity.

But the concerns over the use of medical devices at home rose above all others.

Marcus Schabacker, MD, president and CEO of ECRI, talked with Chief Healthcare Executive® about the potential hazards in patients using medical devices and tools at home.