As an engineer i am constantly amazed at what new technology brings, but sometimes we lose sight of what we "need". Smartphones are great, technology wise, but what happens when they go t*#s up? The old adage "don't put all your eggs in one basket" springs to mind. A similar trend is sweeping through the medical equipment world, multifunction devices. Why do we need computer controlled anaesthetic machines, defibs with full monitoring & recording or infusion pole stands with nine I.P. addresses, RTC, IRDA, cat5 etc.. Medical devices, especially life support types should be easy to operate, extremely robust and the last word in reliability. Over recent years we have seen Defibs that "crash" because of software bugs, problems with anaesthetic machines that caused lengthy downtimes due to programming errors or waititng for the right version of a motherboard to be delivered. These devices should not be reliant on software which can give rise to unexpected outcomes or render the device unuseable. We need to get back to basics, proven designs that can be tested to destruction. I am thinking of starting a club called the "Latter day Luddites" to ptomote the sensible use of new technology and less reliance on software. Probably a bit off topic but it relates to the fact that we rely too much on software that we have no control over.
