I don't care what ANYBODY says, medicine is still a lot of art, guessing if you will.
The new medical education would have you think everything can be "evidence-based." Doesn't work that way because some patients just haven't read the book and don't present classically. You have to take the science, stir it in with the art, and make sure the plan works for that patient. Fail to do all three, and you have sub-optimal care!
YUP. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just run your Star Trek medical scanner over someone and it would tell you what's wrong.
Oh Hey, have you heard about this 17 year old girl that has made a computer program that will predict breast cancer to about 95 percent?
I am amused by the television commercials by the Sonosite company. They make ultrasound machines and advertise to the public all the miraculous imaging that can be done with them, very reminiscent of the Star Trek Tricorder. Of course, its not quite that easy, but I don't think it will take 200 more years to come up with a better scanner than Bones McCoy had.
Algorithms for diagnosis are immensely helpful, unless the patient is one of the 5%. I hope we never get to the point where we say, "well we are 95% sure you don't have cancer. Goodbye."
