The Medical Futurist

Please help find exceptions! "AI will not replace medical professionals, but those medical professionals who use AI will replace those who don't." I've had this quote for almost a decade. But now I'm looking for very specific examples in the form of medical or healthcare jobs and tasks, where this is not going to be true.

The boundary between regulated medical devices and consumer electronics is blurring. Mainstream tech companies, like Apple, are gradually transforming everyday gadgets into health tools.  Now consumers give pieces of advice to Apple about how they could improve the AirPods Pro 2 to make it a hearing aid replacement. Key suggestions: 1) improving battery life 2) customization and design considerations 3) improve inconsistent sound quality Source: https://lnkd.in/ew6zaKS4

It's one thing that I will give a keynote speech at the Rīga Stradiņš University Research Week later this month, but I will speak after the President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs. No pressure! :) In my presentation, I will describe how the paradigm shift of digital health will further progress by AI becoming the newest member of the medical team, and what future physicians can expect from all these changes. See you in Riga! Register now: https://lnkd.in/dW4-ctVt Opening Plenary session programme: https://lnkd.in/dW4-ctVt

Maybe bridging the digital gap for the elderly is not about using even more technologies but asking teenagers to help them out. A project in Florida did exactly that. "𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦, 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ-𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑡𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ-𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡." The results were promising: 91% of older adults engaged with smartwatch prompts Social engagement was strongly linked to higher levels of physical and mental activity High school students — ages 15 to 19 — played a critical role in onboarding participants Source: https://lnkd.in/eWEFzSeW

Here are 10 groundbreaking technologies in healthcare that will strongly determine how medicine will be practiced in the future. More here: https://lnkd.in/d95fvxZ

Healthcare is going through a paradigm shift, not only with digital health but even more with the rise of AI. Are you keeping up? AI, digital twins, and remote care are transforming medicine, and those who understand these changes will lead the future. We designed The Digital Health Course to give you a roadmap to navigate this shift. If you’re a business leader, policymaker, or innovator, this course will future-proof your career. 📢 Enroll now: https://lnkd.in/eTfWm6i7

In a world full of tech hype, The Medical Futurist stands for independence, science, and real insights. No ads, no hidden interests—just evidence-based analysis on the future of medicine and digital health. Watch to learn why our work is trusted by healthcare leaders, policymakers, and innovators worldwide. Join us on this journey to cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters for patient care!

AI should be able to clinically reason with physicians! Authors in this paper explain how AI systems can contribute to diagnostic decision-making, but argue that physicians might need the most assistance in other tasks in other ways. If a skin-checking app identifies a mole based on pixel-based characteristics, "it might be difficult for an overseeing clinician to know whether the set of highlighted pixels is clinically meaningful, or simply spuriously associated with diagnosis". "𝐼𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠. 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ-𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑠, 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑦, 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑠. 𝐶𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ-𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠’ 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠." This could be a better strategy for bringing physicians closer to AI, and generative AI tools are already capable of such conversations. Source: https://lnkd.in/eMJvs6Ws

To feel empathy, you need trust. It's one question whether patients would trust an AI agent, chatbot or technology, but would they be able to trust an AI avatar made based on a real person? Shanghai-based Ping An Health just launched a generative AI-powered chatbot on its mobile health application featuring the avatars of real physicians.  "𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑛 𝑋𝑖𝑛 𝑌𝑖, 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑝𝑝, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑-𝑡ℎ𝑒-𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑛-𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝐼-𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠. 𝐼𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠.  𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑏𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑦𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑝𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑠, 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒." What if you could choose which physician's avatar you know and like to talk to? Source: https://lnkd.in/eDB8SZG5

Tech companies keep on announcing generative AI tools for physicians. Now Microsoft just announced Dragon Copilot which can draft documentation like clinical notes, referral letters, and post-visit summaries. The questions that it raises for me: Which tech company will offer the best AI service that they can prove through peer-reviewed studies? Which tech company's AI tools will physicians trust more? If I were a policy-maker, I would dedicate a lot of effort to solve these questions. Source: https://lnkd.in/dBfaa55B