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At this point I almost think you could automate away my Primary care provider. All he does is take vitals, perform a cursory examination (may include a CBC, et
by jcadam 9y ago
At this point I almost think you could automate away my Primary care provider. All he does is take vitals, perform a cursory examination (may include a CBC, etc.) and then refer you to a specialist. I wonder why a nurse can't do the exam and plug all of my data into a system that spits out a diagnosis (You have strep throat - 98% confidence) and/or a referral to someone with some real expertise.
- Piskvorrr 9y agoAnd there's your problem. It Works for trivial issues, breaks badly for anything outside the happy path. But hey, we only care about the happy path, 80/20, that's good enough for a computer program! (Nowhere good enough for a diagnosis, but that's a minor issue we'll address in the next major version, or handwave away)
- dragontamer 9y agoThat's actually a big debate right now. But the AI is completely not involved at all. A Nurse Practitioner is 4-years of undergrad + 2-years of Nurses school (which is roughly equivalent to a Masters Degree). So there's a big belief that highly trained Nurses ought to be good enough for primary care. ------------- With that said, I've traveled a bit across America and many rural areas only have small ~3 or 4 room "hospitals" that cover entire towns, or even entire counties (~2 hour drive area to the next 5-room "hospital"). In these cases, you definitely want a Doctor who has experience in way more fields. Nurse Practitioners are probably good enough for primary care in cities, where referrals to specialists is possible. In rural areas where specialists may be a 4+ hour drive away, its simply not feasible to recommend a specialist. The doctor at the small county hospital is all you've got.