Role of technology in health research
Introduction
Bijker (2005) defines technology as "a set of physical or artifact objects, such as computers, cars, among others". Jover (1999) proposes two images to understand technology: the intellectualist, who considers her as a practical knowledge derived from science;The artifactual image considers technology as artifacts or tools that will have various uses.
Technology is part of our day, every day its use is required to exchange information, as well as communication. In the same way, technology is required for other important areas such as science, entertainment, education, as well as for economic activities (Cobo, 2009).
Technology, remarkably changed what to do in several areas of knowledge, as in health sciences, where the development of technology improves diagnostic and therapeutic strategies of various diseases in the same way had its influence on remodelingof conventional health systems. Likewise, technology had a great impact on health research, highlighting the greatest dissemination and access to information;The generation of technology to conduct precise research or the generation of technological tools to carry out simulations in research studies (Guerrero, 2004).
Developing
Information and Health Research Technologies and Research Technologies
Belloch (2012) defines Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as "Technologies for Storage, Recovery, Process and Information Communication". The potential of new ICTs has facilitated the health research process, but has also generated new challenges.
Previously, when formulating a research problem in the bibliographic search, they were necessary.
There are also programs that facilitate text processing, which allow the permanent modification of the document, as well as the bibliographic management tools (Gutiérrez and Froiran, 2002). These tools not only serve for bibliography management but also allow collaborative work by sharing the selected information between the research team (Avello, Martin, Diaz, and Clavero, 2013).
Research data collection is also facilitated, thanks to the fact that it is possible to use virtual tools for collection, such as electronic surveys or directly in data processors. Similarly, data analysis no longer requires laborious tasks as in the past, since immediate processing softwares of hundreds of data is available. Finally, the presentation of final reports is facilitated by using online resources and software to expose the results of the research such as Power-Point (Gutiérrez and Froiran, 2002).
Technology in drug research
Technology had a great papal in the investigation of new medications, which is why it accelerated in recent years. The generation of specific drugs or molecules for various diseases was thanks to the new technological tools.
Biotechnology allows the development of molecules with very precise therapeutic objectives, as happens in cancer treatments where you can act at the molecular level. Biotechnology allows research time research of several doses of medications simultaneously, as well as the evaluation of its effects on living organisms or making simulations and/or predictions of its effects (Gershell and Atkins, 2003).
Technology in Genetic Research
Genetic research would not have been possible thanks to the development of technologies in this area. The discovery of practically the greatest of the genes of various living organisms is now possible.
There are technological instruments capable of making millions of readings of the DNA sequences at the same time. For example, new generation gene sequencing technologies can lead to a better understanding of the genome in its integrity, discovering genetic mutations or polymorphisms (Mardis, 2008).
Bioinformatic tools allow processing a large amount of genetic data, which facilitates the investigation of genetic sequences, which in the past was a practically impossible task (Pop and Salzberg, 2008).
Technology and Collaborative Research in Health
Currently science is not an individual activity, but rather it is considered a collaborative and sometimes multidisciplinary activity (Brake and Pratt, 2005).
It is possible to carry out the same research work by collecting data from different parts of the world, with the help of data generation. The research team can interact at any time with the help of technological tools, for example, through virtual meetings and everyone can participate throughout the research process.
In this regard, ICTs have a lot to do, which can facilitate scientific collaboration and give rise to new types of collaboration, this is important when the entire scientific team is not available in a given place. A clear example is developing countries, where ICTs can make possible the ‘migration of minds without the migration of bodies’ there are different forms of scientific collaboration such as: shared instrument systems, community data systems, open systems of open systemsCommunity contribution, among others (Sonnenwald, 2007)
Epidemiological Technology and Research
Epidemiology is one of the main health research areas. Previously conduct epidemiological research supposed great investment of time. This task is facilitated thanks to technology with the generation of disease classification systems;Better monitoring and prognosis of the disease and the best transfer of information (Laporte, Barinas ,, Chang and Libman, 1996).
In several countries where there are national disease records, when an epidemiological study is desired, it is only enough to access a database and start the analysis and processing of information.
Technology in the evaluation of research activity
Currently, it is not enough to carry out research, the need to measure scientific production, as well as its quality, is increasing. The need to evaluate the impact that an investigation had, usually evaluated by the number of citations also arises. It is logical to assume that in the past and even in some countries it is difficult to measure the amount of scientific production, however, technology facilitated this process.
The application of bibliometric technologies can measure scientific production based on articles published in scientific journals. The indicators are extracted from citation databases and an impact factor can be established. With the help of the Internet, it is possible to establish quantitative analysis of the publications, in this way the impact of scientific publications, cybermetria and webmetry can be assessing can be useful for this purpose. (Aguillo, Granada, Ortega and Prieto, 2006).
Conclusions
The development of technology had a great impact on research in general. Particularly in the health area technology has a role throughout the entire investigative process. There are technological tools for searching and access to information, for text processing, statistical analysis and publication.
The presentation of the data can be done in a simpler way thanks to the specific softwares. In addition to the ease of access to information that achieved technology mainly with information and communication technologies, they made possible the completion of collaborative research work in different countries.
On the other hand, precision research in the area of health, which implies a molecular level was facilitated by biotechnology. Similarly, large epidemiological studies are currently carried out with greater precision and in less time. In the same way, in the investigation of new medications, new technologies such as biotechnology are very important.
Technology in health research is a dynamic process that is changing, therefore, changes the way of investigating and we must acquire the necessary skills for the management of these technologies.
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