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Stupid NY times article PA vs PA


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Guest HanSolo

Article has a stupid title but I actually think this technology will be quite useful. It's not about replacing clinicians; rather, it's about analyzing patterns in a patient's medical record that would flag them for further review for certain conditions.

However, I don't think this will ever be fully implemented in the US. In order for this technology to work properly we'd probably need a national EMR or health record database. In order for that to happen, we'd probably need universal healthcare...

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Actually, AI, specifically expert systems, has a long history in medicine.  The MYCIN expert system for diagnosing blood infections and recommending antibiotics was built at Stanford in 1976.  I did AI work for a number of years in my IT days.  A lot of the diagnosis and treatment recommendations we do is very amenable to automation.  The provider-patient interaction to gain precise definition of symptoms and physical exam findings is where the human has the most value.

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I think the issue was that the authors referred to the tool used by the physicians as a "physician assistant".  No apostrophe showing possession even.  Personally, I don't give a damn about computers and their role in medicine, but a couple thoughts:

1. If the end user of "medicine" can't afford the use of this big fancy computer, it's no good.  I.e. The patient.

2. If the patient doesn't understand enough about basic science concepts to even take their medication, it's no good.

3.  Calling a computer a "physician Assistant" is like me calling my stethoscope "the doctor ".  I evaluate and treat patients.  Period.  Cade Metz should watch the videos on what exactly a pa is.  

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