Saturday, 16 April 2016

Will machines replace doctors? By Hugo MADEBENE

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With the technological breakthroughs, and the more frequent uses of technology, more and more workers are replaced by machines. Robots’ presence at work is growing day by day because they are considered as a much more efficient solution to earn more money and are more accurate than humans.

This “evolution” is also present in the medical field. With time, the patient has become the centre of the medical system. He is extremely informed and doesn't accept medical or surgical hazard anymore. With the development of internet and, recently, connected objects which can make medical analyses, there is now real independence of the public concerning doctors. This evolution is characterized by the emergence of numerous starts-up dedicated to e-health.

The use of robots in medicine is already great, but this will tend to accelerate in the next few years. Surgeon robots are gradually integrating operating blocks and soon they could be followed by their equivalent in general medicine. The researchers Kris Hauser and Casey Benett say that they have developed a medical robot clearly better than doctors in diagnosing diseases and in proposing adequate treatments… This robot can take the medical information of the patient with the use of medical tools such as a stethoscope or a thermometer integrated into the machine. So it knows what the symptoms of the patient are. With his artificial intelligence and his database, he can make a precise diagnosis, which is more reliable than one made by a human doctor. This accuracy in the diagnosis is due to the non-exhaustion of the robot and his capacity to always be objective.

Some studies show that a robot or an algorithm is more efficient by 35% than a human doctor and costs twice less for the patient:  $197 for a robot against $497 for a doctor. Studies also show that the treatment chosen by a robot is much more relevant than the one chosen by a doctor.

So, with all these advantages, robots will logically replace doctors with time. But a robot is still a tool; it doesn’t have compassion. A doctor knows when it's an appropriate moment to say something. With a robot there is no social help and no human relationship; these are very important in medical treatment.

The most plausible solution would be cooperation between man and machine, allowing more effective treatment…

Links:

-www.futura-sciences.com/magazines/sante/infos/actu/d/medecine-robots-remplaceront-ils-bientot-medecins-44717/
-www.maddyness.com/innovation/2016/04/01/e-sante-medecine-du-futur-bertin-nahum/
-www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/education/festival-of-the-imagination/11921755/will-robots-take-over.html

Hugo wants to be a doctor.

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