Technology Impact on Healthcare Clinicians

[FireCloud9]

1. What impact do you think technology (automated systems, robotics, etc.) like McSleepy and DaVinci will have on healthcare clinicians?
2. What areas do you see impacted or expect to be impacted in the future
3. Throughout your healthcare career, what direct and/or indirect impact have you seen or experienced?

[Hoping to use this thread as a discussion of current and future potential healthcare technology systems]

Computer system may eventually help with diagnosis
IBM is preparing to make inroads into the health care market with its Watson computer system, the technology that recently beat human players on "Jeopardy!" The company is working on allowing the technology to link with electronic health records and integrating a database of health blogs and other data meant to help doctors accelerate diagnoses.


UCSF Launches Automated Pharmacy

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[adayatatime]

While there may be some moaning about lost jobs due to automation, I am excited about what this can potentially do for patient care. Maybe docs will finally give their patients a bit more bedside time. A specialist saw my kid for a grand total of 2 minutes the other day without even doing vital signs before rendering a DX (I keep remembering a quote from my textbooks: "There's a reason they are called VITAL signs!"). Yep, definitely worth the hour and a half drive.

We've also been charged for "outpatient procedures" when the ER doc calls the PCP from the hospital, but the PCP doesn't actually come in and just says to the ER doc, "uh huh, keep an eye on it, and tell aday's kid to come in in a couple days." Then he bilks us on the "outpatient procedure." Man, I have to say that receiving that phone call was a ton of work.

With a computer helper, maybe the MDs won't look like they're leaving before they even enter the door to assess and speak with a patient.

Sorry for the acerbic tone, but I've just been experiencing the stinky underbelly of medicine from the consumer's point of view a bit much as of late.

 

[FireCloud9]

I hear you Aday. Though you know the old saying, "If you can't beat them, join them!"

Here are some other technological developments that we'll see over the next 3, 5-10yrs. http://www.xprize.org/prize-development/life-sciences

The Tricorder X PRIZE will award $10 million to the team that develops a mobile solution that can inexpensively diagnose patients by combining expert systems and medical point-of-care data—such as lab-on-a-chip or wireless sensors, provide a recommended course of treatment, and upload all relevant data to the cloud.

The Digital Doctor X CHALLENGE will award $1 million to the team that builds a low-cost, point-of-care expert diagnostics and treatment system based on a computer platform that can be operated by a minimally-trained person to accurately diagnose a range of common, regional diseases.

 

[FireCloud9]

Any need / application for this type of technology in a Healthcare setting?