Good article and glad to have someone with clinical experience, research experience, and a passion for tech such as yourself at the table.
I recently learned of Perplexity AI, and I’ve tried it for a few clinical questions. It is still not as good as humanly doing the hard work of PubMed and reference book synthesis, but so much faster of course… and it cites references. They are real clickable references! Often from journal sources, but also from more watered down educational sites like WebMD.
Let us know if you have any experience with this one someday. It’s hard to keep up with the AI Cambrian explosion.
Extraordinary week, and extraordinary report, Eric. I don't know of any other observer/reporter in the medical AI space who's anywhere near as comprehensive.
When I spoke in December at the IHI Leadership Forum I said that medicine is having a "monolith moment," referring to "2001: A Space Odyssey." NOTHING is going to be the same now that we've touched it, and we all better fasten our seatbelts ... and LEARN about the new world we are already in. This column supports that analogy. WOW.
The SyntheMol AI sounds so promising! I'm wondering whether anyone is looking to make better vaccines with a similar program. It would be great if some AI can come up with a more stable version of the mRNA vaccines that will make them available to places in the world that can't use the current versions. Or find antigenic regions to make a pan-coronavirus vaccine. Or maybe even design small vaccine molecules that are inexpensive to make and store, and to administer by the best route (nasal, oral, injection).
Historically, radiology has often been open to adopting new technologies in advance of other specialties. For example, I started using voice recognition software to dictate reports in the 90s. With AI, I think the adoption rate has been high because most of what we radiologists look at is in digital form to begin with and therefore amenable to AI assessment.
I'm most familiar with AI applications in ultrasound, specifically evaluation of thyroid nodules for risk stratification and determining whether biopsy is required. In many studies, AI has outperformed less experienced physicians in this regard, but I'm concerned that if they consistently depend on software, they'll lose or perhaps never acquire the expertise to determine when it's off base.
This may seem out of nowhere but I am a nurse in DC and my teenage daughter is bilingual/fluent in Spanish and we talk a lot about how frustrated nurses have been about the lack of bilingual staff to communicate with a growing pop of non-English speaking patients and families. We use these rolling video screens with real/live medical translators who repeat to the patient what I or the doc say. They of course totally stymie the nuances rapport one can have with a patient
I am sure that we will try to use AI or tech to further alleviate this issue. But how? Because ultimately we NEED the human connection for all the non-technical components of medical communication (clearly details about informed consent or anesthesia or prognosis must be careful delivered by a trained medical translator, for instance).
My daughter is frustrated because there appears to be NO opps in DC for the old fashioned “candy striper” role where she as a friendly bright (aspiring doctor.. applying to premed next year) could have more casual chats with patients about what they need from water to reassurance about visiting hours etc).
What have you seen in Calif wrt to volunteering and bilingualism? My daughter is also super eager to do a research paper where she interviews nurses and staff about their experiences with non English speakers. With all the regs these days I am not sure my hosp (Gtown) or others would be able to allow this even with anonymous surveys!
Would love any leads or advice on this topic. It seems a big gap in the system, despite really well meaning and dedicated staff and hospital leadership it’s just been really tough to find a way to truly communicate with these vulnerable patients!
Good article and glad to have someone with clinical experience, research experience, and a passion for tech such as yourself at the table.
I recently learned of Perplexity AI, and I’ve tried it for a few clinical questions. It is still not as good as humanly doing the hard work of PubMed and reference book synthesis, but so much faster of course… and it cites references. They are real clickable references! Often from journal sources, but also from more watered down educational sites like WebMD.
Let us know if you have any experience with this one someday. It’s hard to keep up with the AI Cambrian explosion.
Extraordinary week, and extraordinary report, Eric. I don't know of any other observer/reporter in the medical AI space who's anywhere near as comprehensive.
When I spoke in December at the IHI Leadership Forum I said that medicine is having a "monolith moment," referring to "2001: A Space Odyssey." NOTHING is going to be the same now that we've touched it, and we all better fasten our seatbelts ... and LEARN about the new world we are already in. This column supports that analogy. WOW.
Love that you’ve now created a YouTube channel, too! Thanks so much for everything you do.
The SyntheMol AI sounds so promising! I'm wondering whether anyone is looking to make better vaccines with a similar program. It would be great if some AI can come up with a more stable version of the mRNA vaccines that will make them available to places in the world that can't use the current versions. Or find antigenic regions to make a pan-coronavirus vaccine. Or maybe even design small vaccine molecules that are inexpensive to make and store, and to administer by the best route (nasal, oral, injection).
Historically, radiology has often been open to adopting new technologies in advance of other specialties. For example, I started using voice recognition software to dictate reports in the 90s. With AI, I think the adoption rate has been high because most of what we radiologists look at is in digital form to begin with and therefore amenable to AI assessment.
I'm most familiar with AI applications in ultrasound, specifically evaluation of thyroid nodules for risk stratification and determining whether biopsy is required. In many studies, AI has outperformed less experienced physicians in this regard, but I'm concerned that if they consistently depend on software, they'll lose or perhaps never acquire the expertise to determine when it's off base.
This may seem out of nowhere but I am a nurse in DC and my teenage daughter is bilingual/fluent in Spanish and we talk a lot about how frustrated nurses have been about the lack of bilingual staff to communicate with a growing pop of non-English speaking patients and families. We use these rolling video screens with real/live medical translators who repeat to the patient what I or the doc say. They of course totally stymie the nuances rapport one can have with a patient
I am sure that we will try to use AI or tech to further alleviate this issue. But how? Because ultimately we NEED the human connection for all the non-technical components of medical communication (clearly details about informed consent or anesthesia or prognosis must be careful delivered by a trained medical translator, for instance).
My daughter is frustrated because there appears to be NO opps in DC for the old fashioned “candy striper” role where she as a friendly bright (aspiring doctor.. applying to premed next year) could have more casual chats with patients about what they need from water to reassurance about visiting hours etc).
What have you seen in Calif wrt to volunteering and bilingualism? My daughter is also super eager to do a research paper where she interviews nurses and staff about their experiences with non English speakers. With all the regs these days I am not sure my hosp (Gtown) or others would be able to allow this even with anonymous surveys!
Would love any leads or advice on this topic. It seems a big gap in the system, despite really well meaning and dedicated staff and hospital leadership it’s just been really tough to find a way to truly communicate with these vulnerable patients!
Thanks!
Catrin