The Doctor In Your Pocket!
7 reasons healthcare will change in the future!
1. Video consultations will be the norm
I am in love with video consultations. Like the rest of the world, finally, I can work from home! And for patients, what is not to like? No more waiting anxiously in your doctor’s office, but the doctor will call you back at a time of your choice, whilst you are lounging in your PJs. Surely that’s not wrong?
Just last week, I had a rather curious consult for a baby several hundred miles away from London (where I practice). The referral letter (from her GP) mentioned a brief seizure whilst her dad was swinging her? Eventually I put it down to a breath-holding spell, But had we missed something? After all, neither the GP, health visitor or I had physically examined her? Are we more likely than ever to simply agree to what the patient may suggest?
Afterall the patient (in my case, the parent) is always right?
2. No more hugs or handshakes
Do we really need to hold someone’s hand when we break bad news? Probably an email is just as good! Aren’t Millenials and Centennials (Gen Z) used to break up texts? Is the warm Handshake I had perfected (since my MRCPCH days) just another Infection Hazard?
Would healthcare Professionals lose empathy and Human Touch?
3. No more “House” themed ward rounds or doctors with big egos!
Ward rounds are now a sombre affair and business-like. Health care workers looking indistinguishable, kitted in aprons and masks! Soon enough we will have our own custom-designed 3D printed masks and headgears which will be our new avatars! But none of that banter that goes around, small talk with patients, really getting to know them!
Needless to say, little children are scared of alien-like faces staring at them through visors. Patients want to go home as soon as possible and in fact, are choosing to stay home. But A&E attendances are at a record low; surely a good sign! Or is there a big disaster looming?
Would delayed presentations cost more lives, especially in the vulnerable and looked after children?
4. The Doctor is in your pocket instead (Chatbots and AI-enabled apps)
The next Innovation goes a step further. Your symptoms analysed by Artificial Intelligence-powered algorithms to come up with the diagnosis? There are apps which puts a doctor in your pocket! What if an app analyses your data in real-time and provides answers when you are unwell but also proactively manages your health?
And will AI in other specialities such as radiology, pathology, genetics etc produce comparable results and replace doctors? Imagine going for an MRI scan and being told it’s normal even before you are ready to leave! Mental health apps which provide CBT when you need it most!
Britain’s Billion-Dollar Startup Babylon Health App Set To Launch For ‘Millions’ Of New Yorkers
Bots on one app will chat seamlessly with those on others, behind your back!
5. Smaller hospitals, practices and care homes could face collapse
Healthcare, like any other business, depends on volume. Profit margins depend on the number of patients seen, procedures performed and operations in a theatre slot. The inefficiency created by safe distancing, PPE, sickness and shielding of staff, may turn out to be financially untenable for individuals and smaller organisations.
Would the big conglomerates finally get a foothold in Healthcare? Healthcare workers will simply deliver health in timed slots!
6. Inequalities in health outcomes and discrimination in Healthcare may rise.
COVID-19 has brought health inequalities into sharp focus. People facing the greatest deprivation are undeniably at more risk of severe outcomes. The economic and social fall out of this crisis may further exacerbate health inequalities critically.
The focus of “Prevention” to save lives which should underpin Health policies could be lost forever.
7. After this is over, many will leave Healthcare.
The fallout of this crisis may result in many quitting Healthcare. Nurses and Doctors at the frontline, traumatised by their experiences may choose to call it a day. High mortality rates in care homes might mean, some of them are not economically viable and many lose their jobs. Nursing and medical students fast-tracked into working, might get disillusioned and retrain.
In the UK, we have our weekly clap for carers. Thank you. But elsewhere, I hear stories of doctors working without leave or pay. Some have been evicted by their landlords, scared they will end up spreading the virus!
The Physicians prayer might soon be forgotten!
From inability to let well alone, from too much zeal for the new and contempt for what is old, from putting knowledge before wisdom, science before art and cleverness before common sense, from treating patients as cases and from making the cure of the disease more grievous than the endurance of the same, good Lord deliver us. Sir Robert Hutchison, Scottish physician and paediatrician
Violence might increase, and as always countries could concentrate on spending more on Arms rather than much needed Healthcare!
