BRotD - Entry 0265 Physician Computer Systems

Best Reading of the Day

There is something for everyone in here if you have a passion for digital.  Systems. Platforms. Medical.  Product Management. Professional. Whatever your flavor this is a must read.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The next time I saw Cameron was on the day of his operation. He lay on a stretcher outside the operating room, waiting to be wheeled in. A computer screen on a boom loomed over the bed, showing the safety checks I still had to do.

I shook Cameron’s hand and was introduced to his wife, who was in a chair beside him. They smiled nervously. It was his first time going under anesthesia. I told them about who would be on the surgical team with me and what was going to happen. I reached for the computer. But then I hesitated. I remembered when I’d turned my back on Cameron at our last encounter.

“Let’s go through these checks together,” I said.

I angled the screen toward the couple. Side by side, we confirmed that his medical history was up to date, that the correct surgical site was marked on his body, that I’d reviewed his medication allergies. His shoulders began to relax. His wife’s did, too.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

Here is the full story on the New Yorker (paywall enabled if you read more than a few articles each month):

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/12/why-doctors-hate-their-computers

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Doctors, AI, the Information Age, and You

Quick.

You have a situation.  There are a set of measurable indicators the most common of which are easy to take.  Various levels or markers of each measurement point to a likely culprit and solution. The size of the data set that must be factored in is enormous, well beyond the ability of the human mind to hold all at once.

How should this be handled?

If this isn't the perfect situation for computers and Artificial Intelligence I don't know what is.

Are we talking about Amazon.com and their amazing ability to mine datasets to sell more stuff to you?  Or are we talking about medicine?

I was an Emergency Room medic in another lifetime with the United States Air Force so I have some understanding of this.  I've been a believer for many years that we need far more computer algorithm medicine and far less human emotion involved.  I've seen it first hand.  That is the premise of this article. 

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee is betting heavily on artificial intelligence...
“If we look at what AI cannot do, there are really two main things,” Lee said on the latest episode of Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher. “One is creative jobs. Jobs like scientists, storytellers, artists and so on. And the other are the compassionate people who really have created a human-to-human connection, trust.”

And what about the jobs that require low creativity and compassion?

“All those jobs will be taken by AI,” he said.

Here is the full article:

https://www.recode.net/2018/9/17/17867990/kai-fu-lee-ai-superpowers-book-artificial-intelligence-jobs-doctors-kara-swisher-decode-podcast

Will the IBM Watson doctors be there for your next medical appointment?  Not yet.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant