Simplexity

A blog by Lawrence Rosenberg, MD, PhD, President and CEO of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal

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The fourth industrial revolution

June 6, 2019

In the past, I’ve written a good deal about my love of reading. Books provide me with two of the things I’ve come to cherish: a chance to slow down, while keeping my mind open to new opportunities for learning.

Lately, my shelves have mostly been lined with texts that focus on what’s been called “the fourth industrial revolution”—in other words, digital health, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. What stands out is one particular book that examines this latest revolution from the perspective of health care, Eric Topol’s Deep Medicine.

Topol’s belief that “medicine has become inhuman, to disastrous effect[s]” is not just thought-provoking, but accurate. The sad fact is that physicians simply don’t have the luxury they used to enjoy in sitting with patients for a long stretch and truly connecting with them. Instead, they’re increasingly torn, as they try to maintain their attentiveness to their patients, while coping with their ever-growing need to tend to administrative duties.

But what if technology could help alleviate the pressure and tip the balance back toward person-to-person contact? Topol argues that artificial intelligence has the potential to relieve doctors of many of their routine (and sometimes mind-numbing) tasks, such as note-taking. This would free them up to tackle the more complex challenges they were trained to do.
With the drudgery taken care of by digital “servants”, physicians and patients will have a chance to re-create one of the more desirable aspects of a bygone era in medicine: a space where the doctor and patient can listen to and hear one another.

In such an environment, the odds of true healing are bound to be greater. I wouldn’t be surprised if, just a year or two from now, a new wave of research tackled this very subject. Now, that’s a book I’d be eager to sit back and explore.

Lawrence

Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg
Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, President and CEO of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal.

Reflections about the healthcare world.

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What I’ve been reading lately

What To Expect From Digital Health In 2018?

Trend-spotting with facts instead of a crystal ball.

Taking the Pulse of Health Care Transformation
Revealing insights from a survey conducted by the Harvard Business Review.

How Technologies Shape The Future Of Medical Conferences
Doctors may be adept at taking adventage of new technology, but they can fall behind in failing to use digital technology effectively in their own conferences.

Is There A Doctor In My Pocket?
Advances in medical technology can be painfully slow, but signs point to an imminent digital revolution in health care.

Do we really need more hospital beds?
Hallway medicine has been the shameful norm in many hospitals for years, but the problem won’t disappear simply by adding more beds, temporary or permanent.

Why And How Should We Define Digital Health?
Digital health is a cultural transformation of traditional healthcare through disruptive technologies.

Mes lectures récentes

What To Expect From Digital Health In 2018?
Utiliser les faits, plutôt qu’une boule de cristal, pour cerner les tendances en matière de soins de santé.

Taking the Pulse of Health Care Transformation
Cet ouvrage dévoile les données provenant d’un sondage effectué par le magazine Harvard Business Review.

How Technologies Shape The Future Of Medical Conferences
Bien que les médecins soient partisans de tirer parti de la nouvelle technologie, ils peuvent tarder à utiliser la technologie numérique efficacement lors leurs propres conférences.

Y a-t-il un docteur dans ma poche?
Les progrès en technologie médicale peuvent être d’une lenteur désespérante, mais des indices indiquent l’imminence d’une révolution numérique dans les soins de santé.

A-t-on vraiment besoin de plus de lits d’hôpital?
La médecine de couloir est tristement devenue la norme dans de nombreux hôpitaux, mais le problème ne sera pas réglé en ajoutant plus de lits, qu’ils soient temporaires ou permanents.

Pourquoi et comment devrait-on définir la santé numérique?
La santé numérique est un bouleversement des soins de santé traditionnels par la technologie.

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  • The fourth industrial revolution June 6, 2019

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