MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND THE
CHANGING MEDICAL LANDSCAPE
Venkat Ramakrishnan
T
echnology has always played a crucial
role in the maturation of medicine.
While the look and feel of technological innovation has changed with each decade,
its purpose has largely remained the same:
ultimately, to improve physicians’ ability to
deliver a higher quality of care. However, as
we make more strides in the digital era, the
impact of technology becomes more granular.
Yes, modern technologies can be beneficial for
patients, but it remains unclear if this modernization actually makes
for better physicians or if it instead cultivates specialists who behave
in an automated, robotic fashion. In attempting to find an answer,
let us consider the impact of three current, prominent technologies
in various healthcare environments.
Electronic medical records (EMRs) have created an easily accessible database that facilitates reliable documentation and experimental extrapolation. Centers all over the country routinely rely
on EMRs to design and conduct meaningful analyses of patient
treatment protocols and their outcomes. Care is better coordinated
as well; malpractice attributed to handwriting misinterpretations
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has dropped considerably since the introduction of EMRs. To that
end, a 2012 JAMA Internal Medicine article quantified the number
of malpractice suits under EMRs as being one-sixth pre-EMR levels1.
These systems have also empowered patients to be more involved in
their own health care. Because EMRs can be easily shared between
health care providers and their patients, both parties now have a
fortified line of communication that was previously absent – one
that promotes transparency and trust. However, many reports have
characterized the increasing distance that technology can place
between doctors and their patients. A recent multi-center study
reported that the visual, verbal, and postural connections between
practitioners and patients were all changed by the presence of a
computer in the room2. Such systems transfer a physician’s focus
from patient dialogue to mastery of the software, though many have
presented strategies for overcoming such barriers in an attempt to
restore traditional patient centricity and overall humanity1-5. Further,
the importance of EMRs in the doctor-patient relationship is now
so pronounced that the US government created an online resource
clearly outlining the benefits of the technology to consumers6. In
short, EMRs are simply more than digital copies of medical records.
They have facilitated intra-physician and physician-patient collab-