Although we haven't discussed this yet in class (and I hope that we eventually do), I want to briefly talk about the growth of technology in treating patients. A recent commercial by GE is out that shows a man and his doctor in the examining room, with the doctor unsure of the patient's history. At this point, we see a lecture hall sized amount of doctors appear in the background, explaining to the man's doctor the patient's history (these doctors are representative of the medical knowledge stored in a computer). With everything we need to know about a patient now available at easy access, what point is there anymore with patient-to-doctor interactions ("bedside manner") , or doctor-to-nurse interactions? Although this may make things "easier", per-se, for the medical personel (meaning doctors can know sooner what they are dealing with, and diagnose more quickly), it will probably reduce the human interactions between patients and their caretakers, which I believe is half of being a good doctor.
In addition, the growth of surgical technology almost makes doctors and nurses obsolete, since they are unable to move with the precision of a robot arm.
Simply put, although technology is obviously a good thing for patients and the evolution of medicine, I also believe that as a result of this growth patients are losing the experience of being treated compassionately by their doctors (a quicker way to diagnose a patient and move on sounds very appealing to fast working, stressed out doctors).
2 comments:
I too am interested in discussing medicine and technology. I think it can be wonderful in helping diagnose someone quickly. It can also make consultations with another hospital or doctor much easier. Recently, I read an article discussing the use of Apple’s iPad in a medical setting. This could be a wonderful idea. Since it is so light weight, or so I’ve read, doctors would be able to carry it from room to room fairly easily. No longer would nurses or patients have to wrack their brains trying to figure out what the doctor wrote. However, there are set backs to all this. Yes it would make a doctor’s handwriting more legible, but what happens when the iPad shuts down unexpectedly? Or what if it gets attacked by a virus? All of the patient’s information is lost in cyber space.
On your point about bedside manner, I agree completely. There is some comfort when going to the doctor and you actually get to speak with them. Recently, a news show had a segment about the new way a few emergency rooms are operating. It discussed a new feature where patients can Skype, or another type of video chat, with a patient who is still at home. The doctors said that this was helpful for ordinary visits to the ER that would reduce the number of actual patients and give those in greater need a quicker entrance. While this is a novel idea that will speed up the ER, I think it is also dangerous. Video feeds are not always the clearest picture and patients can lie about symptoms that a doctor would normally notice. Technology is always two faced, one good and one bad. We need to evaluate both before making any decisions and decide if it is really necessary.
This topic of technology in medicine is also very appealing to me. Since i hope to persue an occupation in the medical field, it is ammusing to think about how much more technology will shape the area of medicine before I get there. During shadowing visits of doctors, i picture myself in that same setting ten years from now, but the reality is that the setting of a doctors office may be completely different down the road due to the advancment in technology. In the future, people may begin to see more and more robots performing intricate surgeries, and the doctor will need to learn how to operate the robot instead of knowing how to perform the surgery themselves. Although it may seem a little farfetched, it is not out of the question with as far as technology has come over the years. I'm curious to see what technology has in store for the future of medicinal advancement and how my life will be shaped because of it.
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