4 ms·

As a big fan of House MD and a software engineer I have always been wondering how often doctors turn to the web to look up strange cases, or is there a benefit

As a big fan of House MD and a software engineer I have always been wondering how often doctors turn to the web to look up strange cases, or is there a benefit in creating a better structured and curated site specifically for that? I guess WebMD is this kind of site, but could someone knowledgeable in medical practice share the thoughts on that? Granted, once I knew she was on pacemaker, I figured that this has something to do with electrical connectivity. But then again, may be this is consequence of my poor soldering skills and watching too much of House MD.

scott_s 14y ago
Doctors do publish novel cases in journals. I think this case is not novel in the sense that journals look for - that is, conditions truly never seen before. This case is novel in the sense that it's an unusual story.
lesterbuck 14y ago
A few months after IBM's Watson won Jeopardy, the IBM Research team came to the Texas Medical Center in Houston for a dog and pony show about its possibilities for health care. They presented for two hours to an auditorium of a hundred doctors and administrators from TMC, one of the premiere medical communities in the world. From a technical point of view, it was pretty impressive what Watson can do, reading everything, never forgetting, assigning weights to knowledge over time, able to explain where it got an answer. But when the time came for the doctors to respond ... ouch! One male doctor said "I already have access to a $500,000 decision support system and I don't use that. Why would I start using your stuff?" Another woman cardiologist said she could see using Watson on about ten percent of her office appointments, but she had a hard time seeing how to integrate it and not be slowed down for the other 90% where it was unnecessary. Doctors are a tough crowd. The Ruby Rogues podcast had Conrad Barski, author of Land of Lisp, a while ago: http://rubyrogues.com/043-rr-book-club-land-of-list-with-conrad-barski/ http://rubyrogues.com/043-rr-book-club-land-of-list-with-con... Barski is a medical doctor who gave up medicine to code. He explained how it just didn't fit the medical culture to be interested in thinking deeply about an interesting problem, House MD not withstanding. Medical training is designed to give real time answers to presented problems, and it is, er..., 'highly discouraged' to tell a patient "That's an interesting case you have there. I'm going to go google that tonight and I'll have more information in the morning."
- sp332 14y ago
  When I was young enough to be in pediatrics, my doctor once pulled out a pocket-sized electronic device and keyed in my symptoms. The result it suggested matched his guess, but it was unusual enough he was reassured to have a second opinion :)
alphaoverlord 14y ago
There are a variety of technical online references. One example would be uptodate.com. they are generally behind pay walls though, so hard to access as a patient. It is frequently referenced.

scott_s 14y ago

Doctors do publish novel cases in journals. I think this case is not novel in the sense that journals look for - that is, conditions truly never seen before. This case is novel in the sense that it's an unusual story.

lesterbuck 14y ago

A few months after IBM's Watson won Jeopardy, the IBM Research team came to the Texas Medical Center in Houston for a dog and pony show about its possibilities for health care. They presented for two hours to an auditorium of a hundred doctors and administrators from TMC, one of the premiere medical communities in the world. From a technical point of view, it was pretty impressive what Watson can do, reading everything, never forgetting, assigning weights to knowledge over time, able to explain where it got an answer. But when the time came for the doctors to respond ... ouch! One male doctor said "I already have access to a $500,000 decision support system and I don't use that. Why would I start using your stuff?" Another woman cardiologist said she could see using Watson on about ten percent of her office appointments, but she had a hard time seeing how to integrate it and not be slowed down for the other 90% where it was unnecessary. Doctors are a tough crowd. The Ruby Rogues podcast had Conrad Barski, author of Land of Lisp, a while ago: http://rubyrogues.com/043-rr-book-club-land-of-list-with-conrad-barski/ http://rubyrogues.com/043-rr-book-club-land-of-list-with-con... Barski is a medical doctor who gave up medicine to code. He explained how it just didn't fit the medical culture to be interested in thinking deeply about an interesting problem, House MD not withstanding. Medical training is designed to give real time answers to presented problems, and it is, er..., 'highly discouraged' to tell a patient "That's an interesting case you have there. I'm going to go google that tonight and I'll have more information in the morning."

sp332 14y ago
When I was young enough to be in pediatrics, my doctor once pulled out a pocket-sized electronic device and keyed in my symptoms. The result it suggested matched his guess, but it was unusual enough he was reassured to have a second opinion :)

alphaoverlord 14y ago

There are a variety of technical online references. One example would be uptodate.com. they are generally behind pay walls though, so hard to access as a patient. It is frequently referenced.