Abstract
By means of the formidable emergence of medical technology, the future role of the traditional clinician is called into question, because of the risk of becoming just a technician of operating devices, and progressively moving away from patients as individuals.
Perspective
By means of the formidable emergence of medical technology, the future role of the traditional clinician is called into question, because of the risk of becoming just a technician of operating devices, and progressively moving away from patients as individuals. This situation also could make the medical clinician become a slave in technological devises, totally dependent on them and with no ability to help the patients when the device is broken or sent to be repaired. Moreover, not in every hospital developing countries, exists sufficient accessibility to technology because of its high costs. Medical education has the risk to become a simple training on devices management. Have the traditional clinics a role as doctors in the future? Is still there a place in history and physical examination and the intellectual clinical skills? What will be the role of the future clinician? To have a vision of that physician, taking into account the technological movement, it is important also to consider the changing role of doctors in recent years. Nurses, medical technicians and other paramedics today they execute some activities previously done only by physicians.
The role of the future clinician may include some of the following
1. Watching over the machines: Making sure their performance is appropriate for the patient’s needs that it will be secure, and it will carry no additional health risks and unnecessary costs.
2. Giving a true importance to results: Machines deliver only plain data, many of it unimportant and that can lead to superfluous actions.
3. Giving explanations to patients: Patients require an interpretation of the studies that have been done, and clearly understanding what they mean; technological devices themselves are not capable of this function.
4. To accompany and watch the disease course: Again, machines can’t provide this personal and emotional feedback.
5. Clinical management: Only doctors can plan what is the next action to take, which additional test are required, which decisions must be adopted, and provide any other strategies.
6. Therapeutics subtleties: Systems, guides and programs can propose therapeutic recommendations, but only doctors can adjust them to specific conditions for individual patients.
7. Responding to questions or doubts: Technological devices usually don’t have the ability to respond to the very specific patient’s necessities.
8. Care of psychosocial needs of patients: Empathy, compassion, comprehension and solidarity. It is time to take into account this profile when teaching new doctors how to perform.
Citation
Lifshitz A. On The Clinical Doctors in The Future. SM J Clin Med. 2018; 4(2): 1034s.