Biology Forums - Study Force

I found this article quite bizarre coming from "doctors" as it says. It states that more doctors are looking toward purchasing an iPad to help them with diagnosis of diseases and even to see if prescribed medication would have conflicting effects with other medication.

i think this is a little too much reliance on technology. I mean the reason WE aren't doctors (yet) is because we're not fully qualified. If all a doctor is going to do is punch in words and symptoms of my condition and tell me i have a certain problem... heck i could do that at home. I would expect doctors to be able to retain most of their practiced information from Med school.. what's the point of having gone through all those rigorous years and end up relying on apps on a tablet?

http://blog.bioethics.net/2010/04/doctors-ineed-the-ipad/  (http://blog.bioethics.net/2010/04/doctors-ineed-the-ipad/)

Doctors consult information all the time, I am sure this refers to more differential type diagnoses. They could look up information about current trials, millions of things I could see them being useful for. Showing patients MRIs or other scans. It might be a bit of an expense, but what difference does it make.

A doctor is a practitioner, and this entails an ongoing practice, hence the reason why they get paid big bucks ;) From the time of our childhood, we know that when our head hurts, we take a Tylenol and it gets better. In other words, we are experienced enough to know that Tylenol relieves head ache symptoms. A doctor is trained to know all types of medicines. You have to remember that doctors see hundreds of patients a week and they get used to knowing what is best for their patients. If a doctor can't put two and two together, what good is a doctor? I can do that at home. If they need a computer to tell them, they are no longer the know-it-all doctors we have come to respect and admire. Why go to medical school? Heck, why go to school at all?

all in all, I think it's a bad idea :)

I think this article addresses some important topics. It would really be unrealistic for a computer to replace a practicing doctor, however, there are some benefits to the use of technology in a clinical setting.

1. organization
2. environmental benefits
3. more efficient tracking of past prescribed medication/current treatments
4. advanced media such as EKG, photos, thermal attachments (if developed), etc.

I feel that it would be okay to have these tools available to doctors, knowing very well that a simple clinical diagnostic algorithm will not be as accurate as a trained professional, after all, the brain is the fastest processor ever made/created.

I just that those who think it would be a good idea are undermining the knowledge doctors possess. It's like saying a mathematician should have a calculator handy in case he/she forgets that 1 over 0 results in an error. You see where am getting at?

I really don't see the problem of doctors using this latest technology. I think it makes their life a bit easier. You can't really expect them to know every little detail of the diseases and medications. Its more like they are using it as a reference...you can't expect doctors to be like robots to know everything. I think this whole idea of using iPAD is very useful for them and I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

I see your perspective Biology-Forums.com, but I think that any kind of professional should be able to use tools available to them to help carry out the service that they are providing. This isn't so much an ethical issue as it is a 'point of the matter' argument.

I agree with some of the posters that I would feel more safe having the doctor look up information on a certain condition, however I don't think it's quite necessary to shell out for an iPad for such resource.

i would rather have a doctor who would make sure he is right before prescribing me a medication than to risk my health just to conserve his ego. Medicine is always changing and so it's very important for a doctor not to rely on what he learned from medschool 20 years ago but to be constantly updated.

I totally agree with karim, but what if the drug you want is being perscribed off-label? For instance, a drug that is used to cure prostate problems is also effective at preventing hair loss. How would a dcotor know this information off by hand?

The difference is... is that a doctor is liablie for any information that they tell a patient. If you are just to look up a certain medication and something were to happen to you... then you would only have yourself and ignorance to blame.

I've heard from a few med students that they use their Iphones/Blackberry's to look stuff up on the go sometimes.

I remember reading this article last year, I believe its probably not the best idea to use iPads but the current system at the moment is effective at the moment

I think there are pros and cons to having an Ipad.  Doctors hopefully rely on their medical training and background to make diagnosis, however, it is impossible for a doctor to know everything.  I'm not completely comfortable with an Ipad being the diagnosis method, but certainly a complimentary method.

iPads are a waste of money

They're wicked!

Theyre oversized ipod touches. But with less features and more expensive

ha ha That's not the point of the topic. What we're arguing is if a professional like a doctor should have to rely on such technology

Doctors and nurses have been using smart phones as reference tools for a while now so this really isn't a  big leap. Some nursing schools and medical schools, for that mater, even require their students to have a device that can run certain applications. Even tablet pc have been fairly common in hospitals in my area for a while now.  The Ipad itself is like a striped down laptop, the applications also tend to be striped down too. The  biggest issues is porting documents between the ipad and other devices and the inability to expand the memory. While there are defiantly disadvantages to going to a ipad compared to a tablet pc, ipads are liter.  Now are doctors lazy to rely on these devices? I don't think so, these are just another set tool they can use.Tools in general tend to be good in that they make things easier, faster, and can even prevent errors in some cases. But should they replace human judgment? No. Humans can extrapolate ideas and eventually a diagnosis from abstract information that the computer is unable to comprehend.   

I liked your opinion there. You're right, you need a human mind to reason, but I think it's more of a reliance issue then anything.

IPADS are popular now!!! I say whoever can afford it use it, In my case I think anything made by apple is overpriced and a B*t** to fix!!!

As a nurse, how would you feel if your doctor used one?

DR.'s already use them. It doesnt bother me, it makes their job easier!

if a doctor has to look up what might be wrong with me, i honestly would not come back to him again. id rather a doctor tell me straight if they didn't know (and perhaps send me to a specialist) rather then looking it up and guessing based on the "valuable info" found on websites.