Extra: AI Improving Medicine
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Future Proof Extra with Jonathan McRae. Proudly supported by Research Ireland on Newstalk.
Now, this is a true story. About 12 hours ago, I banged my head at a game of football against a side railing and blood was gushing into my hands. It was quite a scary experience. And I went into the reception of the sports facility and they gave me some bandages and my hands were covered in blood. I was quite scared. And I put my hand over and held the wound closed.
What personal experience highlights flaws in the healthcare system?
Until paramedics came and paramedics came and they said, look, it's not too bad. And they said, you should probably get it looked at. And I said to myself, they said, it's not too bad. I'm not waiting in A&E for eight hours. And I went home. And that in itself is a pretty damning thing. Pretty damning assessment of my experiences in A&E. And that, you know, that would happen. You'd be advised by paramedics with a head injury to go to hospital and you as a grown man with his brain working say, no, I'm not going to do that because... I don't want to be waiting for six hours and just be sent home. That says a lot. And so while we talk on this program about the wonders of medicine and science, the system, the health system that we interact with is deeply flawed at times.
And we all know this. But how might we make it better? This is a question that Associate Professor in the Department of Women's and Children's Health at Uppsala University and Dr. Bott, Why Doctors Can Fail Us author, Charlotte Bleas, has been exploring. And she joins me now. Welcome to the program, Charlotte. Good to have you on.
Great to be on. And I'm very sorry to hear about your injury.
No, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. I am fine. The paramedics were right. But like, it just says a lot, right? And so I wanted to ask you, because this is a really deeply researched book. It's got loads of really interesting anecdotes about how things are and why they are. But you're a philosopher as well. So it kind of looks at the ethics and the whys of things. And I suppose I wanted to ask you, why did you write this book and what were you trying to achieve with it?
Yeah, I wrote the book because I was really interested in thinking about exactly what you've commented on and observed in your own case. What are the problems with current health systems? And as patients, we're very alert to them. We know what they are. But what are the problems to which technology could potentially be a solution. So what I focus on is problems like what you've mentioned, access to health care. It's estimated that there was a study in the US in 2020 that found that patients take an average of two hours out of their day for a 15 minute medical appointment. And that's longer, incidentally, if you're if you're on a lower income. because you probably have to take time off gig economy jobs and use public transport.
So there's all kinds of barriers to accessing our doctors. But even whenever we get into the clinic, there are all kinds of psychological pitfalls that can kick in as well. And I talk about that in the book too, considering how people disclose their symptoms, how doctors keep up to date with information, all kinds of challenges there.
And let's start off at the very beginning of this saying that to be a doctor is an impossible task, right?
Absolutely. My premise in the book really is to say, look, let's take seriously the idea that doctors are not gods. And unfortunately, we kind of as patients, we tend to collude in this idea that they should be infallible. They should be omnicompetent and capable. And we feel let down when they don't get it right. But they are only human beings. They do have Stone Age mind where like the rest of us. And if you put our minds, mind-brain in an environment that is incredibly frenetic, that is very demanding, involves a lot of multitasking and involves a lot of keeping up to date with information. The way I view it in the book is it's surprising doctors get it right and are as successful as often as they are.
It So it's a huge feat of human achievement. But on the other hand, we've got to talk very seriously about the ways healthcare and human doctors who are doing their best can let us down.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:32
2
What personal experience highlights flaws in the healthcare system?
0:32–5:25
3
How does Charlotte Blease define the problems with current health systems?
5:25–12:40
4
What role does technology play in improving healthcare access?
12:40–17:42