Will Medical Technology Deskill Doctors?

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of medical technology on health care in light of the fact that doctors are becoming more reliant on technology for obtaining patient information, making diagnoses and in carrying out treatments. Evidence has shown that technology can negatively affect doctor-patient communications, physical examination skills, and development of clinical knowledge. We propose three possible approaches to medical education and professional development to assist human doctors in acquiring a better understanding of the relative role of technology. The approaches include providing undergraduate and professional development training on using medical technology, helping students recognize the importance of clinical evidence, and helping doctors establish autonomy while interfacing with medical technology.

The Conceptualization of Value in the Value Proposition of New Health Technologies Comment on "Providing Value to New Health Technology: The Early Contribution of Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Regulatory Agencies"

“…As a final note, we believe that technology should facilitate the delivery of care without negatively affecting doctor-patient communications, physical examination skills, the perception of safety and security among patients, and the development of clinical knowledge. 15 A potential side effect of the increased usage of technology in healthcare is the rise in costs that may hamper the overall accessibility of cure and care services, both from a patient and a professional perspective. Indeed, since clinicians are becoming more dependent on technology, in particular for accessing patient information, reaching diagnoses and delivering care, undergraduate and professional development training on using medical technology in the domains of cure and care has become a must to ensure autonomy while interfacing with medical technology.…”

“…Indeed, since clinicians are becoming more dependent on technology, in particular for accessing patient information, reaching diagnoses and delivering care, undergraduate and professional development training on using medical technology in the domains of cure and care has become a must to ensure autonomy while interfacing with medical technology. 15 …”

Considering the Safety and Quality of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care

“…The primacy of technological assessment may also affect examination skills as physicians lose the nuance of unique patient histories and subjugate informed decision making to technology-dependent reasoning. 30 …”

“…Research on the overreliance of technology in medicine has found that the increased use of EHRs has led to a prioritization of physician-technology interactions over physician-patient interactions, leading to decreased patient satisfaction, a scenario that could foreshadow the role of AI in patient care. 30 Patients also deserve to be informed of the use of AI in clinical care. The failure to disclose the use of AI tools to patients may diminish the trust between patients and clinicians.…”

Is Explanation a Marketing Problem? The Quest for Trust in Artificial Intelligence and Two Conflicting Solutions

“…Especially in the context of care, the usage of technologies without a detailed understanding of the machine learning process that leads to clinical outcomes can determine some obstacles to professional practice: (1) Employing the marketing strategy would promote a medical/ technological culture according to which the best tools are those you can use without asking questions; in other words, reducing doctors' critical thinking on the resources they use on a daily basis. Secondarily, the promotion of a medical culture in which technologies can be used as "black boxes" can lead to overconfidence in doctors (i.e., relying on technology for tasks other than those it was originally designed to perform) and to deskilling (i.e., reducing user's abilities because activities can now be performed by machines; [24,25]). In such a scenario, doctors would not be able to intervene effectively when AI does not work or is under maintenance.…”