Introduction:The fields of orthotics and prothetics are fast developing, both in Slovenia as well as elsewhere around the world. The reasons for better results in these fields are mainly new findings in the production and use of materials, regulative changes and well-trained talent. Norms, harmonised standards and appropriate passing of legislature are crucial for high-quality and equal care. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to review the literature on existing legislation, norms and harmonised standards in the field of medical devices in orthotics and prothetics as well as to present goals, requirements and novelties in the new legislation. Methods:This paper used a descriptive method. The data and literature was researched using databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science and Medline. The keywords used in this research were “competencies”, “standards”, “legislature”, “orthotics” and “prosthetics”. Results: We found that the new legislature introduced novelties in the classification of medical device, nomination of CE sign and the testing of compliance. The passing of new regulation also introduces novelties for other participating, yet also notified bodies and economic agents. Based on the comparison of new legislation with the existing one we noticed novelties in the controlling and monitoring of information from the post-production phase. Discussion: We found that the aim of novelties in legislation includes the following: better protection of public healthcare, removal of incoherence, removal of vagueness, removal of unequeal protection of patients in the EU, distortion of the internal market, filling of the void in legislation, better support for innovation, better internal coordination, transparency of the system, better global coordination. Conclusion: A product first needs to be thoroughly reviewed and its compliance to legislation needs to be determined. Only then can we market the medical device, enable easier exchange of goods and services as well as enable the security to the users. In that aim one uses processes of determining compliance, standards, norms and certificates. These change with technological innovation, new products on the market and increased needs of ensuring more clear and simple rules.
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