Dr. A.I. – your computer will see you now
Healthcare is expensive the world over, whether it be a national health service subsidised by the taxpayer or insurance backed private firms there is always a problem with over-worked staff, limited resources and high waiting times for appointments. One of the major issues in places where healthcare is "free" is unnecessary appointments, with self-diagnosis causing anything from a mild cough to a stubbed toe to be an automatic trip to the doctors to check it out. In recent times there have been efforts to reduce this kind of behaviour from a dedicated non-emergency number to call in those cases that aren't "critical" to "virtual" appointments that can be carried out via a mobile app to a General Practitioner [GP] available to diagnose and even prescribe medication without the need for a physical visit, although this does still tie up the time of the GP for the initial call.
General practitioners are generalists; specialism, by definition is not their forte. These medical professionals are vital in the same way that "first line support" is vital to keep the subject-specialists dealing only with matters that cannot be addressed by anyone else. So is there a better way of keeping the GPs time dedicated to those issues that take a generalists breadth of experience and knowledge, rather than having an arbitrary 15 minute appointment scheduled for a patient who simply needs [and knows they need] a referral to a physiotherapist?
When we have artificial intelligence systems already outperforming humans in the health care sector surely a pragmatic approach that aims to release the pressure on those on the "front line" would serve to everyone's benefit. If, instead of booking an appointment with the local GP [the next available often not for days later] for a pulled muscle that hasn’t healed only to be told "yes, you will need to be referred to the specialist", who then has another wait for an available appointment, you could use "Dr. A.I.", a specialised video analytics solution using the built-in cameras in smart phones and computers that could assess your illness with AI rather than tying up a human doctor, who's time there is so precious little of.
Such a system could be built with input from the doctors who deal with patient diagnosis and questions / actions could be posed to the user so the analysis can be made based on particular responses. This interrogation could be more and more specific as the system receives you responses. With this type of question and response format, along with anonymised data, such a system would not take long to build an understanding of the ailments that occur often and the diagnosis could be used to book an appointment with the specialist with a high degree of certainty. Where a diagnosis is not clear and obvious the users could still be directed to a GP, but this time armed with the initial assessment from the AI.
This would keep the GPs better utilised, dealing predominantly with cases that are not immediately obvious, which - for any high-level professional - is exactly what is desired from a job; being challenged.
While health services in many countries remain highly regarded, protected and in some instances placed on pedestals, they are not beyond reform and in a world that continues to push for participation in lessons of efficiency in all industries, the health care sector should not be allowed to get away with a sick note.
