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deleted1023831
I’m really rethinking things. I didn’t get in this cycle. But I majored in CS and have a job offer in a healthcare tech company.
And I realized that I think much more like like an engineer than a physician. I think about improving systems and efficiency.
When I was shadowing, I remembered paying much more attention to how doctors would inefficiently make call schedules by hand rather than a computer program. I wanna make programs that docs can use to automatically make call schedules.
I remember seeing how much time would be spent charting. I wanna design NLP for automated scribing and charting.
I remembered noticing how much time would be spent clicking through unintuitive EHR rather than talking to the patient. I wanna design elegant and intuitive EHR, catered for each speciality’s needs.
I remember noticing how MRI would never be available. I wanna design faster MR Imaging for faster scans.
I remember seeing how radiologists would always be backlogged with scans to read. I wanna design computer vision algorithms so that radiologists have lighter case loads.
I remember seeing how a screw would be too big, so the surgeon would have to shave off more bone to get the screw to fit. And I wanna design more precise biomaterials.
I remember thinking about how branded drugs cost more and I wanted to design cheaper generics using simple techniques I’d learnt in higher level ochem (which I loved).
I remember seeing how many hospitals in the developing world don’t have basics like ultrasound. And I wanna build cheap, affordable ultrasound and never patent it so I can keep the design open-source. That way every hospital can cheaply invest in ultrasound.
In short, I didn’t just notice the doctor-patient interaction.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to people’s stories and enjoyed the human connection.
BUT…I couldn’t help but also notice all the design flaws in the system. I just couldn’t help but think how much better it would be if we could fix all the design flaws. And I can’t get that out of my head.
The problem is that it’s seems like it is really hard to tackle these problems without actually working in a clinical setting and seeing the problems first-hand. I can’t design solutions as an engineer without seeing the problems as a doctor.
Is it still right that I wanna go to medical school? Not for the purpose of being a full-time clinician, but for the purpose of designing solutions in healthcare?
And I realized that I think much more like like an engineer than a physician. I think about improving systems and efficiency.
When I was shadowing, I remembered paying much more attention to how doctors would inefficiently make call schedules by hand rather than a computer program. I wanna make programs that docs can use to automatically make call schedules.
I remember seeing how much time would be spent charting. I wanna design NLP for automated scribing and charting.
I remembered noticing how much time would be spent clicking through unintuitive EHR rather than talking to the patient. I wanna design elegant and intuitive EHR, catered for each speciality’s needs.
I remember noticing how MRI would never be available. I wanna design faster MR Imaging for faster scans.
I remember seeing how radiologists would always be backlogged with scans to read. I wanna design computer vision algorithms so that radiologists have lighter case loads.
I remember seeing how a screw would be too big, so the surgeon would have to shave off more bone to get the screw to fit. And I wanna design more precise biomaterials.
I remember thinking about how branded drugs cost more and I wanted to design cheaper generics using simple techniques I’d learnt in higher level ochem (which I loved).
I remember seeing how many hospitals in the developing world don’t have basics like ultrasound. And I wanna build cheap, affordable ultrasound and never patent it so I can keep the design open-source. That way every hospital can cheaply invest in ultrasound.
In short, I didn’t just notice the doctor-patient interaction.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to people’s stories and enjoyed the human connection.
BUT…I couldn’t help but also notice all the design flaws in the system. I just couldn’t help but think how much better it would be if we could fix all the design flaws. And I can’t get that out of my head.
The problem is that it’s seems like it is really hard to tackle these problems without actually working in a clinical setting and seeing the problems first-hand. I can’t design solutions as an engineer without seeing the problems as a doctor.
Is it still right that I wanna go to medical school? Not for the purpose of being a full-time clinician, but for the purpose of designing solutions in healthcare?
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