computed by algorithms which confirm
the blood sugar level.
Marty McFly: [Reading the
newspaper from 2015]
“Within two hours of his
arrest, Martin McFly Jr.
was tried, convicted and
sentenced to fifteen years
in the state penitentiary.”?
Within two hours?
If you think that is impressive, the app
goes a step further and offers tips for
diabetics on their dieting and can also
remind them (with a smartphone alert) that
it is either time for a meal or for another
dose of medication.
We might as well call these devices
healthcare assistants.
Vinad Khosla of Khosla Venture predicts
that this sort of technology will replace
80% of what doctors do and enable them
to practice medicine more effectively. A
lot of what doctors do can be better done
by way of data collection and analytics,
leaving them able to focus on reaching a
more informed and accurate diagnosis.
Doc: The justice system
works swiftly in the future
now that they’ve abolished
all lawyers.
The above scene from the famous Back
to the Future trilogy was one of many
predictions for the year 2015 (amongst
self-lacing shoes, hover boards and flying
cars) that it got wrong. At least for the year
2015. Back in the 80s, this would have
been the stuff of science fiction and childlike fantasy. But Hollywood’s idea that
an iJudge or robo-cop could lay down
the law seems to have planted a seed (or
microchip) into the future development of
artificial intelligence.
No doubt lawyers here in UK will have
heard of ROSS, the world’s first artificially
intelligent attorney hired by a New York
based law firm to deal with bankruptcy
matters. Research is also being carried out
into computer programs looking to analyse
and ‘match’ the decisions of judges using
a decision making algorithm. It all sounds
rather far-fetched and I suspect many eye
brows will be raised at this point, so I’m
not going to focus on artificial intelligence
in the legal sector on this occasion. All I
will say is watch this space.
Artificial intelligence is still in the early
stages of development and a lot of
work remains to be done, but the best
example of its use can be seen in the
context of healthcare and medicine.
We may not have reached the stage of
having a robotic assistant look after us
(think Disney’s Big Hero 6) but it is now
thought that certain processes carried out
by clinicians could be performed more
accurately and efficiently using datadriven technology.
For example, artificial intelligence could
be used to analyse electronic medical
records to deliver high quality data in
real time. In the US, clinicians use so
called ‘supercomputers’ and systems
to identify patients who are at risk of
developing kidney failure, cardiac disease
or postoperative infections. Doctors will
also receive alerts when a particular drug
is contraindicated because of a patient’s
genetic history and the system can
predict which medication the patient will
need in future.
One such database available in the US
is ‘Modernizing Medicine’, a web based
system containing medical information
and insights. The idea is to give clinicians
access to knowledge shared by other
doctors, including the outcome of certain
treatments provided to patients with
similar conditions.
When you start linking all this pooled data
with the wealth of information that can
be retrieved from updated publications,
a very powerful tool is created. Doctors
using this system are better able to deliver
treatment plans specifically tailored to
their patients.
Another development that is worthy of
mention is a glucose meter developed
at the Military Institute of Technology
(“MIT”) which tests blood sugar levels
without breaking the skin. It virtually looks
inside the body and measures the level
of glucose in the blood. Named ‘iSULIN’,
the device is worn on the forearm like
a telemetric band (a gadget which
measures blood pressure and oxygen
saturation) monitoring changing blood
flow in per ipheral vessels underneath the
skin and measuring the absorption of light
by tissues. The signal is then transferred
to a smartphone app, processed and
He emphasises that healthcare is really
the “practice of medicine” rather than the
“science of medicine” and I am inclined
to agree; a trial and error approach is far
better suited in the lab than on the front
line in Hospitals where patients are being
treated.
Ultimately, it’s about acting in the best
interests of the patient and that means
challenging certain practices of medicine
based on tradition that do not have a
scientific basis.
When we begin to recognise our own
limitations and the limitations of technology,
we can come up with a more balanced
compromise that will reduce costs and
maximise efficiency. Of course machines
are not so good at making inferences and
understanding the context of notes made
by doctors. However artificial intelligence
is an extremely powerful tool in crunching
data and identifying patterns in a way that
humans cannot.
We have generally seen the transition to
automation with drones, driverless cars,
algorithmic trading, robotic concierges
and even robo-monks. Healthcare
and medicine will also face change.
Whether machines will ever be able to
offer appropriate treatment plans seems
far away and for now can be left to the
imagination of Hollywood.
We need to be prudent in determining
how far we invite artificial intelligence into
our lives. In the context of healthcare,
my view is that it should be limited to
the pooling of shared information and
analytics, but the clinician should continue
to oversee the overall care regime
provided to a patient and not solely rely
on a system.
B
y Magda Zimnicki
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