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Creating a System of Brains

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I came across an interesting analogy from a blog post written by Dr. Kevin R. Campbell, found here, discussing the importance of collaboration in medicine. He begins by defining the word “collaborate” as “laboring together” within a network of individuals, working and learning together to achieve a goal. In reality, physicians have been trained to be independent in “thought and care.” Though this may be the case, we can find many instances where healthcare has been more effectively delivered with a team approach. Dr. Campbell further explained, “When providers collaborate, the focus is shifted from the individual to the system and how care is provided-[in] a system based team approach. When providers collaborate, care of all patients in the system improves…in the technology sector, many companies conduct joint research-they have the vision to see the win-win outcomes when smart people work together.”

The interdisciplinary scientific field of biomedical informatics has experienced extensive growth and change in the manner in which knowledge is being deployed. Biomedical informatics has shifted the paradigm of medical decision making from a collection of individual brains and expertise to a system of collaboration among a system of brains.1 To further support this idea, using the analogy represented above, here is another interesting article which focuses around four significant questions.

  1. How does learning in an informatics-rich world change what people learn?
  2. What are the differences between the human brain and the computer?
  3. What are the best examples of the electronic medical records as a learning resource?
  4. How is informatics being used to discover connections?

The shift from a system of brains has brought a change in the role of professionals as well as the informatics and information technology infrastructure. “This shift changes what individual professionals need to know and how they will learn.”

A young medical student or resident in a busy emergency department collects information about his patient and based on his/her knowledge a diagnosis is assembled. If time allows, the student or resident may consult a senior physician to compare conclusions to arrive to the best course of action. “Thus, the wisdom of a more experienced individual transfers to a less experienced one. Today’s medical education processes and curricula lead to the development of individual experts. Each expert has a base of current knowledge, understands scientific methods, is prepared to act on what he or she knows, can interpret new literature, and learns from ongoing medical practice. Learning is individual.”

It is also important to consider the alternative. “The practice of depending on individual expertise engenders autonomy, self-confidence, and gracious acceptance of variability in practice. However, the cognitive capacity of individual brains, which can correlate only about five sets of facts in a single decision, limits expert-based medicine. As discovery increases the amount of biomedical knowledge and information available, the expert trades breadth of expertise for depth. She or he specializes…Specialization is not a viable approach to managing this complexity. Ironically, the future world of individualized medicine will place many decisions beyond the power of individual physicians.”

For a 2020 medical student or resident, discussing the difference in expertise between two individuals will no longer suffice. Instead, the resident and senior physician will “discuss whether the expertise of the medical community at large seems correct for this particular patient.” The student and physician have been “empowered by the expertise of a network of brains and computers…the network empowers opportunities for individual, institutional, and medical science learning.”

There are many more great points made in this article, articulating Remedy’s vision. I highly recommend further reading, especially to individuals involved in healthcare and information technology. You can find the full article, here.

 

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Alejandra Dahl
Alejandra Dahl

The post Creating a System of Brains appeared first on Remedy Informatics.


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