"The Doctor is Here"
I just finished reading a collection of “doctor stories” of physician’s practicing in Appalachia. I had the opportunity to practice in a location not far from the author’s home. There is no question that rural America, like much of the world, has issues of access to care. The responses are not always obvious.
Telemedicine with robots may be one solution. Can we “robotize” medicine? The good news is that these technologies may help us refocus on the nature of medicine and hopefully the nature of healing. Is it an adjunct or a replacement? Is it a new way of expanding the outreach of care? How will we know?
The answers are likely to be confusing to patients and societies. We will need help to assess the impact from those who live and work in very different environments. So for me, the answer is not about the technology, it is about the healing agents who deploy and use these tools!
Marvin
References
Jourdan, C. (2012). Medicine Men: Extreme Appalachian Doctoring (11.6.2012 ed.)
e-book
Medical robots in action: Ivar Mendez at TEDxToronto ...
Hage, M. L. (2011). Minds, Bodies, Machines and Souls. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/07/minds-bodies-machines-and-souls.html
