THE RATIONALITY OF “DIGITALIZATED MEDICINE: A PHYSICIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

We are all too familiar with the word ‘digital’ usedlike household item in our daily lives, all but fewermedical professionals in the late nineties of twentiethcentury thought that the contour of the Medical scienceswould not change to any major degree giventhe rigidity of nomenclature and the scientific precisionassociated with this science. But in 2018 the scienceof Bu Ali Cenna and Alexander Flemming is no morea Holy Grail. In fact digitalization has pervaded intothe field of medicine in a proportion equivalent to thatof the parent computer sciences itself. All the presentday consultants in the field of Medicine in its variousspecialties would recall how consultants at the time oftheir training would grill them during the ward rounds orin a symposium on a scientific question that has beenraised in the latest edition of British Medical Journalthat was published last week to which only he hadaccess, he being the prescriber. They would all look atthe lips of the consultants with awe and surprise as towhat next pearl would be spelt put by him, they havingno clue whatsoever!!. Not anymore of this, rather themoment consultant for example asks about a noveltopic, the apparently disinterested post graduate at thetail of the ward round or a backbencher in the ClinicalPresentation Conference through his i-phone has thelatest update on that subject published even this morning.To move a step further if it is a group discussioneverybody irrespective of his interest or hard work canjoin in the active discussion at two minutes’ notice usinghis easy to use smart phone. You now rarely need tomove miles and burn your petrol, time and money toreach the archives of the Royal Library in London to getyour needed topic. This obviously cannot be a substitutefor quality research work or literary publication but forevery day knowledge and application this is what thepeople call Science Made Ridiculously Simple! HealthCare Professionals can now access text books, variousscores calculators, drug information anywhere and anytimein a fraction of seconds. The subscription for onlineportal services and access for facilities like PubMed orGoogle Scholar will make you feel like a member of eliteamong the educated lot in Medical Profession. This willnot only enhance the self-confidence brought about byknowledge but also improve the quality of services andbenefit to the humanity for those practicing practitioners.One can simply check the required and relevant informationwithout having to leave patient’s bedside or goto another room to have a look at his text book.It may sound queer in our setup but the availabilityof Digital Pharmacology guide during the ward roundis a routine practice in advanced countries usuallycarried by a Pharmacist. All that the Consultant needsto remember is the name of a generic based on hisknowledge and practicing experience, the detail aboutthe updated doses, routes of administration, duration,various brands and their prices is one tick apart on theonline messaging services of the guide. This not onlycan help rationalize the therapeutics but is a significantmilestone in quick dispensation of services in consonancewith the socioeconomic status of the patient.Needless to say however, these quick and cheapaccess to Medical information as already mentionedcan be adopted without and audit and scientific rigor,necessitating the ultimate need of a teacher and qualityadvances to be quoted and adopted in the scenariosmentioned above. As part of the scientific protocol,the need for caution and scientific dexterity cannot beoveremphasized. The newer information and protocolsneed to be put to the test of recommended protocolsbefore being recommended for implementation. Thedeviation from these can be disastrous in long term asone of the pitfalls of this above scientific machinery isthe complacency and rusting of the clinical senses andexpertise as a result.Foreboding is forewarned.

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