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A day off, throat drops and honey sound good but what if the sore throat is an early symptom of something more serious.
Technological change tends not to happen as quickly as we expect, or see in science fiction. Chatbots have been around since the 1960s, although the pace of development is now more rapid, led by breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.
Arguments continue on how far this can go. A senior Google engineer was sacked for stating that their AI was showing signs of human like consciousness, use in religious services has prompted questions on whether robots can have a soul.
Our thoughts are on another significant area which impinges on personal life, the ability of a robot to replace a doctor.
The Current Position
Medical chatbots are already in place, for making appointments, renewing prescriptions, or offering basic advice from a database.
Some dermatologists feel that even this type miss an opportunity to interact with patients and can miss subtle clues which may be important. There is also a perceived lack of personal service, which matters to patients.
The counter argument can relate to database models but primarily to chatbots based on machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence. Proponents state they could ultimately offer greater personalisation.
A review of research to date at the end of 2021 did accept that chatbots now hold the ability to conduct complex conversations. They also saw opportunities for them to support medical staff, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
The core conclusion was however that for the foreseeable future, human elements in health care will not be replaceable.
Missing The Meaning
There will be those who disagree with the review’s conclusion, perhaps citing machine learning facilities built for advanced diagnosis.
We have studied one type quite closely, which is intended to diagnose skin cancer tumours. There is no doubt that progress has been made and they are as good as most general medical staff but not specialists.
Similar thoughts apply to developers arguments that chatbots can answer questions which don’t require highly trained medical professionals. The problem is, you can not always know that is the case.
Good consultants pick up on language which may be subtly nuanced, even where a patient might not be aware of an issue. Chatbots can not do this, coping with human language is one of computer science’s most difficult puzzles.
The Foreseeable Future
Chatbots and other technology will come to help more with data gathering, communication, or workflow efficiency and by doing so, improve patient outcomes. They can also be on duty 24/7 and are easily scalable.
This is cost saving but developing chatbots which could replace medical staff may not be. The investment required to overcome the differences would be vast, back up and security are part of this but the core issue is complexity.
Our clinic doesn’t intend to use chatbots anytime soon, because human contact matters and is the best way to avoid incomplete assessment. Good quality medical dermatology is built on irreplaceable knowledge, experience and intuition.
We have come a long way since the 1960s and after another 60 years, perhaps we will all be dropping into a robot’s office for a detailed, flawless diagnosis. For the present, sticking with people is safer.