Dr Topol to med students: "When I was in medical school, the term "digital" was reserved for the rectal examination"

Here are some excerpts from the Baylor College of Medicine commencement address by Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, delivered yesterday, May 22, 2012. This should be a required reading for everyone involved in healthcare, which is basically everybody because each and every one of us will be a patient one day.

Eric Topol to medical students: "When I was in medical school, the term "digital" was reserved for the rectal examination."

"You sleep with your cell phone and prize it right up there with food and water. We have evolved to a new species of man. We are Homo distractus!"

The benefits of digital medicine are clear to Dr. Topol who shares the story of a patient he saw last week: "I asked him to put his fingers on the 2 sensors on the back of my iPhone case so I could do his electrocardiogram—ECG—that was normal. And free, by the way. Then instead of using a stethoscope to listen to his heart, I used a portable pocket-sized high-resolution ultrasound device and within a minute I could see every heart structure—the heart muscle thickness and function, the valves, the size of the 4 chambers. Why would I ever listen for lub-dub when I can see everything? I haven't used a stethoscope for over 2 years to listen to a patient's heart."

From Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) YouTube channel: 2012 Commencement Speaker, Dr. Eric Topol, spoke on May 21, 2012:



Here is Eric Topol's presentation at Health at Google:



References:

Baylor College of Medicine commencement address by Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute

Comments from Twitter

Quoc-Dien Trinh, MD @qdtrinh: Makes it sound cool. “@DrVes: Dr Topol to med studs: When I was in med school, the term "digital" was reserved for the rectal examination"

The Stroke Robot Will See You Now - Mayo Clinic Video

Mayo Clinic — April 30, 2010 — Imagine this: you're eating dinner with your family and suddenly your left arm feels numb. Your speech is slurred. It could be a stroke, so you've got to get to the hospital fast. But what if your hospital doesn't have a stroke specialist or what if that doctor is out of town? The answer may be telemedicine. Doctors at Mayo Clinic are using a telemedicine robot that allows them to be face to face with patients who are miles away.

Robot Doctors - Neurologist stays in Chicago but sees patients across the globe

From NBC Chicago:

Neurologist John Wapham lives in downtown Chicago, but he can see patients anywhere in the world ... from his apartment. And he does. He's an expert in treating strokes, and with the help of a robot and a broadband connection, he's able to be at a patient's bedside instantly.


"This brings specialists to to the remotest parts of the country, and the world. I've popped open my laptop on Michigan avenue and treated patients in another state, " he says. And in the not too distant future, these robot doctors could be on the battlefield, or at the scene of a horrible car accident: instantly.

Some critics fear that telemedicine may not be accurate enough. For example, the accuracy of teledermatology was inferior to real-life clinic dermatology for melanoma diagnosis in a recent study: http://bit.ly/8A4oiu

References:
Robot Doctors: Future of Medicine? NBC Chicago.