Abstract
Background: Progress in medicine and breakthroughs from bio-medical research have resulted in a rapid proliferation of healthcare technologies including drugs, equipment and interventional procedures. They are often numerous, costly and holding great promises, with safety and efficacy yet to be fully established. Healthcare providers are thus under constant pressure to decide for timely introduction of appropriate and worthy technologies for benefit of patients, despite all the uncertainties involved. Worldwide experience demonstrates that regulatory controls over emerging drugs and equipmentare better established than for interventional procedures. It is not uncommon for the latter to involve intricate elements of innovation, new consumables, variations in application, and a high demand on operator skill to achieve the intended outcome. Such degrees of complexity often make the situation difficult to manage. As no interventional procedures are free from hazards, the decision to introduce a new procedure with its associated uncertainties is not a simply task. A number of government agencies and professional bodies have made attempts to devise assessment tools to manage this challenge, in an effort to safeguard patient's wellbeing and uphold professional accountability.
Recommended Citation
Dickson T S Chang, Hing-Wing Liu, Siew-Peng Lim, Safe Introduction of New Interventional Procedures: A New Initiative in Hospital Authority Journal of the Hong Kong College of Cardiology 2001;9(1) https://doi.org/10.55503/2790-6744.1132
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