This is an interesting question, especially with how much technology is rapidly innovating. With the increasing use of voice recognition as evidenced with use in Apple's Iphone, doctors and nurses will not have to manually input information into the computer system. Within ten years, each office will have software that can take what nurses and doctors say, transmit into dictated orders and exam findings, and automatically send orders out to pharmacies, radiology, and lab departments. Streamlining the registration, evaluation, and management of patients will allow for a much smoother experience for patients in the primary care realm.
Within 20-50 years, Medicine and technology may converge into a realm where patients don't even need to be seen by the physician anymore. Imagine, as a diabetic, the 3 month follow up is due. You wake up, go to your home medical port site, which will scan you with a laser and ultrasound, detecting the vital signs, the cell count, the liver function, hemoglobin A1c, and any other test required. The laser can provide a 3 dimensional image of the body like a CT scan without radiation, or like an MRI. Of course, if a face to face is desired, the patient can do so via videoconferencing. Even if the good ole fashion face to face is required, the option is still there. But as energy demands change, and the US finds ways to cut costs, patients will find that driving to the doctors' office maybe an energy waste.
That information is then transmitted to the Medical Home, where the patient's physician is monitoring several screens. The physician of the near future will be able to treat more than 10,000 patients per year, averaging around 50 patients per day. Further into the future, a physician can treat over 100 patients in a day with technology that streamlines information to his office. The screens will have voice recognition and sensors that will be able to automatically detect abnormalities for the physician. Prescriptions will automatically be filled via voice activation from the physician not into local pharmacies, but rather into Medication box depots, which after identifying the patients' retina and finger will dispense the medication. These depots will be spread around such as regular pharmacies nowadays.
It may be hard to believe, but the technology for all these possibilities already exist. Surgeons are using robots to do intricate surgery, and one day may not need to be in the actual surgery suite, or even in the same hospital. The possibilities are endless. I just hope that physicians and nurses never are replaced by robots.
Within 20-50 years, Medicine and technology may converge into a realm where patients don't even need to be seen by the physician anymore. Imagine, as a diabetic, the 3 month follow up is due. You wake up, go to your home medical port site, which will scan you with a laser and ultrasound, detecting the vital signs, the cell count, the liver function, hemoglobin A1c, and any other test required. The laser can provide a 3 dimensional image of the body like a CT scan without radiation, or like an MRI. Of course, if a face to face is desired, the patient can do so via videoconferencing. Even if the good ole fashion face to face is required, the option is still there. But as energy demands change, and the US finds ways to cut costs, patients will find that driving to the doctors' office maybe an energy waste.
That information is then transmitted to the Medical Home, where the patient's physician is monitoring several screens. The physician of the near future will be able to treat more than 10,000 patients per year, averaging around 50 patients per day. Further into the future, a physician can treat over 100 patients in a day with technology that streamlines information to his office. The screens will have voice recognition and sensors that will be able to automatically detect abnormalities for the physician. Prescriptions will automatically be filled via voice activation from the physician not into local pharmacies, but rather into Medication box depots, which after identifying the patients' retina and finger will dispense the medication. These depots will be spread around such as regular pharmacies nowadays.
It may be hard to believe, but the technology for all these possibilities already exist. Surgeons are using robots to do intricate surgery, and one day may not need to be in the actual surgery suite, or even in the same hospital. The possibilities are endless. I just hope that physicians and nurses never are replaced by robots.
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