Zachary Melton ENGL 1102 Mr. Borrero 3/20/2013 C.A.P.

Essay When you think of a doctor, what do you see? A middle aged man or woman dressed in white asking you questions and diagnosing your symptoms? Soon that image could change for people as technology is quickly taking a foothold in the medical industry. As Helene Pavlov's article titled Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Your Family Doctor? suggests, artificial intelligence and machines will take over a lot of the medical industry from scanning X-rays and test results to directly diagnosing patients based on symptoms. While Pavlov views this as a negative step in the medical field, I happen to disagree and agree at the same time and think that artificial intelligence is growing to be more than up to the task to aiding doctors, but not completely taking over. However, more than artificial intelligence is affecting the medical industry. Digital culture (such as websites) and medical technology is impacting the medical field as well. As a medical patient, why should you care? Technology is being used to enhance many aspects of the medical field from managing patient data, research, to impacting our health care system (Salman). By the end of this article you will know what AI, digital culture, and medical technology is to medicine as well as why I believe these technologies are necessary to the medical field but not to completely replace doctors. Hopefully by reading this you obtain a deeper knowledge of the technology behind the medical field and aren't intimidated by its advances. It's important to know a little bit of background information on artificial intelligence in order to fully understand how it affects the medical field. So what exactly is AI, or artificial intelligence? When talking about AI there are a lot of different things you could talk about. For the purposes of this article, we'll define it as an attempt to replicate intelligence in machines and computer programs. If you're looking for a more technical definition, Istvan S. N. Berkeley from the University of Louisiana at

Lafayette defines artificial intelligence as the study of man-made computational devices and system which can be made to act in a manner which we would be inclined to call intelligent (Berkeley). That's nice and all, but how is this linked to the medical field? Artificial intelligence is used for many different things in the medical field from databases, to image processing, to aiding doctors in diagnoses (Rastgarpour 5). Artificial intelligence is even used to help train medical students while they're in school such as with the famous IBM Watson computer ("Cleveland Clinic and IBM join forces). It's easy now to see that artificial intelligence is no minor player when thinking about doctors and the medical field as it covers many different areas. In her article, Pavlov questions artificial intelligence's ability to evaluate abnormal patterns, or to self-aid a patient which to a degree she would be correct. While I don't believe artificial intelligence can completely replace doctors, it still is a vital tool in the medical field. As I said previously, AI plays a hand in a variety of different aspects of the medical field that have become more than just making it easier; it has become a necessary part of the field. Let's take IBM Watson as an example since I've already mentioned it. Currently, Watson is being used to help medical students by applying their knowledge using Watson's vast database technology to 'diagnose' patients given their symptoms (Cleveland Clinic and IBM join forces). This is important because, according to IBM, by 2020, doctors will face 200 times the amount of medical data and facts that a human could possibly process (Cleveland Clinic and IBM join forces). Given the vast knowledge the field holds, its becoming a need to have the help of artificial intelligence there to help students learn everything that is different from the memorizing game. There could even be potential for this type of technology to be used by actual doctors to help diagnose actual patients since it's unlikely for a human to remember every possible illness someone might have. This is where the human and artificial intelligence collaborate to advance the medical field efficiency. I agree with Pavlov when she argues that artificial intelligence do not have the right to diagnose patients on their own (Pavlov). I believe a doctor holds authority over the program to diagnose the patient and treat them, and the artificial intelligence is there as a tool to help

them. Artificial intelligence is not the only tool doctors can utilize with the growing technology advices. Digital culture plays a huge part in the medical field today as more and more people are taking their symptoms to the internet to diagnose themselves. Medical digital culture is websites used to diagnose, talk about, or even treat illnesses based on symptoms. These sites include but are not limited to Web MD, Mayo Clinic, Medline, Yahoo, and Google. These sites provide articles that talk about certain illnesses as well as forums for users to discuss their symptoms or problems. How is this linked to the actual medical field? Many people are taking matters in their own hands and looking for diagnoses on their own. In a very recent study it was said that 59 percent of U.S. Adults say they looked online for health information within the past year (Hill). Over half of the U.S. Are starting their medical journey online, but is this a good thing? Some would say yes, some would say no. It might be obvious, but this technology has it's ups and downs when talking medically. Some good things is that the patient is more informed on the types of illnesses they could have based on their symptoms and some simple ways to treat them. Having an idea that something you could have is very dangerous can lead to emergency, often needed, trips to the doctor. One example would be a woman named Pat Stewart, who had an unusually long respiratory infection that lasted several weeks (Hill). After checking online for the potential causes, Pat decided to consult a doctor since the outcomes seemed serious (Hill). It turned out Pat was diagnosed with asthma after an X-ray and CT scan (Hill). Information is a good thing for people to have at their finger tips, but is too much information a bad thing? I would say yes, because some people are not trained to interpret it. In the wrong hands, the information can cause a lot of problems for someone trying to diagnose themselves online. What if they get their diagnoses wrong and start treating themselves for something completely different from what they actually have? Not only can there be dangers involved with treating the wrong thing, but their real problem is being neglected while they treat their false illness (Dombeck). There is also an issue with the accuracy of these online sources, since it is really just a database that goes off your symptoms.

There are no blood tests or X-rays to go off of to be sure of that you have. Dr. Roger Harms, editor in chief of Mayo's consumer information site commented that When you search 'headache' and the internet comes up with brain tumor, it's not likely going to the be first thought on 'headache' that your doctor will have (Harms in Hill). Aside from patients using these sources, you might be shocked to know that actual doctors are referring to these sources to diagnose patients. During a survey, 46 percent of doctors use search sites like Google or Yahoo in the practice of treating, diagnosing, and caring for patients (Chan). It might be interesting to note that 42 percent say they get information from sites like Web MD (Chan). If doctors are using these sites themselves to diagnose patients, why not just use them yourself to cut out the middle man per say? Well this goes back to my argument that these technologies are not meant to replace your doctor. As I said before, these online sources are good to get an idea on what could be your problem and it's ideal when you think something serious could be wrong, because then you can consult your doctor to get fully diagnosed. When a doctor refers to these sources, they are trained to know and rule out possible diagnoses with their own knowledge as well as what to search for when looking for problems (Chan). If you wanted to, it could be wise to thoroughly research what you think your problem might be so that you can take it to your doctor. This helps you understand what is wrong with you, and you already have an idea of what the problem is so you can be engaged with the conversation your doctor will have with you. Rink Murray, a gynecologist from Chattanooga agrees with this notion and adds that if you feel the doctor isn't working with you or can't or wont take the time to help you understand why he or she disagrees with your researched conclusions, get a second opinion (Murray in Hill). However, you should keep in mind that medical digital culture is meant as a tool and not completely replace your doctor. It's very unwise, as I've said before, to self diagnose ones self as it can be dangerous.

Outline Introduction Purpose is to convince the reader that technology is needed, but meant to be used as a tool to aid doctors and not completely replace them. Targeting US patients and producers of these technologies. Paragraph 1 What is AI? How does AI play into the medical field? Databases, X-rays, diagnoses How is it necessary to the field? IBM Watson It's not meant to completely replace a doctor It can't make diagnoses on it's own Paragraph 2 What is Digital Culture? How does it play into the medical field? WEBMD How is it necessary to the field? Gives people an understanding of what COULD be their problem It's not meant to completely replace a doctor It can be bad for someone to diagnose themselves using the internet. Someone should contact a doctor if they think they have a serious problem because it could be fatal if not treated correctly. Symptoms alone might not be enough to diagnose a patient. Tests might have to be done to know for sure Paragraph 3 What is medical technology? How does it play into the medical field? Surgery: Cyberknife, NueroArm|| Rehabilitation: Exoskeleton || Education How is it necessary to the field? Provides highly advanced tools for doctors to use to increase efficiency and ease to which they diagnose and treat patients It's not meant to completely replace a doctor the doctor is the one to treat a patient with this technology. It it a tool for them to use. You wouldn't want a machine performing surgery on you, would you?