Running an algorithm for the management of a well-typed tumor or a child with a septic joint is relatively easy. But managing the expectations of that cancer patient or nervous mother is something more involved. Expectations are how we imagine the future given what we currently know and understand. Patient expectations are part of the human experience of ... Continue Reading about Human Experience of Disease and Patient Expectations
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine – Are You For or Against?
Are you for or against artificial intelligence in medicine? With the rise of machine learning in healthcare this is becoming more common question. When confronted with this question, MIT’s Max Tegmark responds, “Are you for or against fire?” Fire of course can keep us warm but can also be mishandled by arsonists and others with nefarious intent. The problem is our ... Continue Reading about Artificial Intelligence in Medicine – Are You For or Against?
Technology and the Power of Human Inconvenience
Over time I suspect that patients have the ability to do more on our own without the oversight of doctors. Much like the slow obsolescence of the bank teller, our interface with the health system will move from human exchange to something more algorithmic and automated. Right now we want this. We don't like human inconvenience. But we still want the old thing. ... Continue Reading about Technology and the Power of Human Inconvenience
How Doctors are Like Bookstores
I came across this tweet recently. It linked to a blogpost written to promote bookstores and discourage the use of Amazon. WHY YOU SHOULD USE A REAL BOOKSTORE OVER AMAZON It got me thinking how doctors are at risk of becoming like book vendors. Don’t beg like the guy promoting brick and mortar businesses. Of course, supplication will keep you alive in the short ... Continue Reading about How Doctors are Like Bookstores
5 Reasons Medical Technology Appears to Fail
In medicine there’s an endemic mindset that if medical technology doesn’t work it will never work. If patients don’t use the patient portal, then portals don’t work and patients aren’t interested in connecting with their own information. The EHR, of course, is the poster child for technology’s failure in health care. But is the idea of a digital space for a ... Continue Reading about 5 Reasons Medical Technology Appears to Fail
The Health Technology Outcomes Gap
This analysis in Health Affairs shows that EHR adoption initially results in higher patient mortality but in the long run lowers mortality. Having gone through the transition from paper to digital, it’s easy to imagine. Initially you think, ‘how do I do this?’ Then you say, ‘how did we do it with paper?’ There’s a period of adaptation that happens with new ... Continue Reading about The Health Technology Outcomes Gap