In what direction will digital medicine develop, will artificial intelligence replace the doctor, and what do we need to be worse than in Israel
You can discuss medicine for a long time and cite different opinions as an example. It is possible to evaluate and interpret the activities of our medical system in treating the population and combating new threats in different ways. It is important not to miss one of the main trends today: medicine, or rather digital medicine, which has already moved into the category of the most technologically advanced markets. Anatoly Kiashko, founder of the LISA Device project, an expert in digital medical technologies at IT Park and the University of Innopolis, predicts that in the next 10 to 15 years, the complete supremacy of engineering ideas will belong to those who will now develop and manufacture this “digital medicine.” He outlined his ideas in the author’s column for Realnoe Vremya.
What have we achieved in the past five years?
First, contextual ads give you information about medical services or clinics, even if you have never searched specifically for those services and were not fully aware of the existence of such clinics.
This is one of the most obvious results that a web user will be able to see today, in December 2021. This can be directly attributed to the digitization of medicine: the algorithm will determine where you are and “slide” the ad of a clinic you visit regularly (for example, located near your home or work). ).
Secondly, the huge openness of medical and paramedical data, and its instant transmission over the web, brings great success to treatment.
For example, cancer patients tolerate treatment more easily and effectively than before, thanks to the fact that they can be diagnosed early by passing their anonymous data to colleagues on the web. I think this is a very cool story.
In each such case, doctors are faced with the need to read and analyze this data. However, over the past five years, this has not happened systematically either at the federal level or at the regional level. We don’t see online diagnostics take over. The reason is simple: so far we are only dealing with building an ecosystem. The first step in this path was the automation of processes, training of both patients and doctors and, in general, immersion in digital technology. Yes, the epidemic greatly intensified at the last moment of the sinking. But surely, it all began 10 years ago, and over the past five years, features of a common system and understanding of processes at the regional level have emerged between the state and stakeholders.
Who is interested at the regional level
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is the Ministry of Health – and it may indeed be most interested in digitizing healthcare. This provides both understandable technologies to treat patients, visual accounting across all areas of healthcare, instant workflow, and many other useful processes.
But only 30% of human health is provided by doctors and hospitals. The remaining 70% depends on his lifestyle, on nutrition, on the level of stress – in general, on factors of vital activity. So, by definition, there should be more stakeholders in the digitization of healthcare.
A working group was created on the introduction and development of digital medical technologies in Kazan. The initiative came from several high-tech startups. Workgroup tasks include an inventory of existing and developing solutions. After that, it is planned to create a soft link to the supplier (vendor lock) – it will help in the implementation and sale of solutions created in Tatarstan. And not only from Russia, but also from countries that are close to us in terms of mentality and economy.
This approach is similar to that used by Huawei, which has given rise to projects such as the smart tunnel at the airport. This innovation allows tourists to be screened without presenting any documents at all (neither passports, nor tickets) and without contacting the airport staff. Instead of going through the classic control, it is enough for the passenger to register at one of the airport counters, where the iris will be scanned. This data is then automatically “linked” to his travels and other documents already entered into the database.
Artificial intelligence
The best practice now is to use AI to recognize and analyze CT images without the doctor’s involvement. I must say a big thank you to the Republic, which was one of the first to start introducing such technologies.
One of the locomotives in our country in this field was the Republican Medical Hospital and the international company Radlogics – they were among the first to use comprehensive technology in medical operations.
But they also have worthy competitors at the level of Skolkovo residents, and thanks to the experience of Moscow, these developers have equal rights to examine their solutions.
But why are we behind?
Unfortunately, we still do not know how, as they do in Israel, to form technical teams for the targeted tasks to create products and services that can be integrated into the ecosystem of medical institutions (public and private) according to understandable procedures.
We don’t have enough staff, budgets, or many other necessary resources. After all, doctors who are saving lives every minute cannot engage in digitization. Programmers who come up with great solutions and services cannot recover remotely over Wi-Fi.
I may be exaggerating, but in order to unite these two communities into a “one house”, you must first lay the foundation. Bring fiber to hospitals, and provide 5G-6G connectivity so a doctor can do an examination with a tablet, not with a pen and notepad. We also need to ensure that this infrastructure can operate smoothly, even given potential force majeure conditions.
That is, any heavy medical instruments and complexes must be equipped with uninterruptible power sources and continue to work even if the electricity is cut off in the entire small area (as often happens in some remote Russian cities).
Medical Internet of Things and the “new DNA” of the medical world
The modern world imposes on us an arms race, but this is not the weapon with which people kill each other. It is not about war at all. It is about large, small, fixed, mobile medical devices and of course IoMT (Internet of Medical Things – Internet of Medical Things). They are used not only by the doctor, but also by the patient. It seems that tomorrow has already arrived.
Until now, patients in Skolkovo, in a branch of Israel’s Hadassah Clinic, could transmit data to the doctor every day using a multi-parameter, and attend a face-to-face appointment only once every two weeks. At the same time, the doctor does not waste time understanding the patient’s history and knowing his lifestyle, but how the analyst approaches his health, seeing his data presented in dynamics, in a trend view.
These are the things we need to learn to do on our own. That is why it is imperative that universities, clinics, and regional IT business leaders come together, on the same platform. It is essential that they come to terms with each other – and gradually introduce new business DNA into their operations. It’s time to start shaping our new medical future together!
Anatoly Kyachko, photo: realnoevremya.ru
Technology Society Medicine Tatarstan
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