Description
Book SynopsisMedical practice and research are inconceivable today without electronic computing and communication tools. Digital machines do many tasks orders-of-magnitude better, faster and more accurately than humans.
Still, there are functions critical to the healthcare endeavor that people do much better than machines, things like: understanding and using natural language; perceiving what is unexpressed; taking into account values, culture, ethics, and human relationships; touching and healing. For the foreseeable future, the smartest computers will be no match for human beings when it comes to performing these most anthropic functions.
American healthcare is at a critical juncture. Providers and patients are increasingly frustrated by degradation of the human relationships that lie at the core of the medical practice. Technologies, such as the computerized medical record, get much of the blame for intrusion into the patient-provider relationship. However, it is not
Table of Contents
Introduction. Logical Conclusions: How Modern Medicine Fits Into Western Culture. What Computers Do Better Than Humans. Technology. What Humans Do Better Than Computers. Data Versus Story. Economics. Security and Privacy. Electronic Health Record. Patient Care. Telehealth. Public Health. Research. Education. The Connected World of Patients.
