Using Computers in Medicine
This article highlights comments from Dr. Brent James, a graduate of my program who currently works for Intermountain Healthcare (IHC). He talks about ways the health-care system can be improved. Part of this is helping doctors follow standard practices–there is just too much information out there for them to learn, remember, and stay up-to-date on. If you help them follow baseline practices (for example, making sure all newborns are screened properly for diseases), then costs and frustrations can be minimized in the long run. Information (computer) systems are key to making this successful.
Guiding doctors according to baselines seems like a reasonable middle ground between helping them do their job effectively but still allowing them freedom–medicine is both a science and an art.
My roommate, who is finishing his residency, said at LDS Hospital the ICU nurses rely heavily on computers to ensure they follow correct protocols (for example, to wean a patient away from using a ventilator machine). These protocols are developed using extensive research and data analysis. But you still need a doctor with training to oversee the process and intervene as needed.
One interesting tidbit is that LDS Hospital (part of IHC) is highly respected among the Biomedical Informatics community–they are pioneers in this field (in conjunction with my department at the University of Utah). I recently attended a conference in Florida, and several times LDS Hospital was mentioned as one of the prime examples of using computers to achieve better results in medicine. This may be one of the reasons, as the article states, that mortality rates in Utah are among the lowest in the world and that health-care prices are not rising here like they are in other places.
It’s exciting to be a part of this field and to be studying where I am.
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