Technologies such as tele- and blended-health, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, nanotechnology, robotics, digital security and privacy are changing the doctor-patient relationship, diagnostic methods, therapy options, pharmacological development, surgical methods, patient-care-services, bioethics, and health policies.
In medical practice, a doctor’s main objectives are to diagnose and treat disease. But a doctor, especially a General Practitioner (GP), does so much more. Inexperienced or overworked GPs may fall back on their biomedical reflexes, developed over years of study and internships at hospitals, but it is through their relationships with their patients that they can become holistic healers.
These skills, developed over time and through relationships with the patients, do not translate directly through technology. An AI cannot interpret what is not directly recorded as text or images in the EHR, and valuable information from the doctor-patient relationship is lost during digitisation. Also, a doctor’s personality and non-reflective actions can help cure but also contribute to maintain the patient’s illness or make it worse. Use of technology introduces a new, complex dimension to this relationship, and we should take time to investigate and evaluate the different ways technology may impact relations in medical practice. The potential as well as risk of technology is that it makes it is easy to reach a higher number of patients faster and with less effort. It is therefore more effective at both helping or harming more patients than a single physician would be able to help or harm in a lifetime.
Large, commercial companies are taking an interest in the healthcare market, and many apps and internet-connected devices, such as Apple’s smartwatch, have been made available to patients. These devices produce large amounts of data, as well as nudging and prompting the user. In Sweden, but also in Norway, a few private companies with substantial funding, are trying to corner the market by appealing to upper middle-class city dwellers with minor health problems. This can result in an increased engagement and improvement in overall health in Norway, as well as alleviate some of the increasing pressure on the public healthcare system. Alternatively, it can result in an increased medicalisation of the public and an unhealthy focus on biomedical data instead of a holistic approach to the patient.
Significance of the research project
Digital technologies are already shaping medical practice. In order to take control and harness this new wave of technology, we must first examine, analyse, and understand it. This research project will enable this to some extent. The research can be used to explore the basis for a modern approach to medicine which neither is controlled by, nor reacts to developments in digital health technology. Instead, it should enable physicians to bridle the forces of technological advance in order to ensure optimal benefit for patients.
Aims
The goal of this project is to explore the dissonance between the binary principles enforced by digital technologies and the inherent uncertainty in the holistic approach in family medicine.
To explore and examine how the use of technology changes the physician’s roles and approach to the diagnostic process and the doctor-patient relationship.
It will be prudent to identify basic principles upon which physicians can rely, so they won’t be overwhelmed by the development and incorporation of digital health technologies into clinical practice and in society as a whole.