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The field of medicine has been developed through tradition since the beginning of time but in the last few centuries have been advanced through scientific research and studies. Even though today medicine seems to be a very methodical and objective field, doctor/practice/hospital bias is still very prevalent in how we treat our patients and have resulted in an extremely inefficient healthcare system.
Technology and data will revolutionize our healthcare system. We will be able to streamline treatments, make more accurate diagnosis, and take a more holistic approach to the patient rather than using partial past medical history. By constantly gathering data and continual monitoring we can provide personalized , precise, and consistent insights.
Over the next decade we will see "bionic assistance" systems next to physicians and other professionals in the healthcare industry. These devices will allow them to perform at levels of expertise like the very best in their field. This will lead to the eventual takeover of the diagnosing, prescribing, and monitoring tasks of physicians by smart hardware. A physician or nurses effectiveness multiplies ten-fold with bionic assistance, being able to cover more patients and handle all of their health needs and offering them a holistic treatment plan.
Medicine in today's age misdiagnosis, conflicting diagnoses and general diagnostic error are common. The use of data science will add many distinct improvements to the healthcare system.
We will get validation of what we accept in medical practice about procedures, therapies, and prescriptions. The more data we collect the more comprehensive and holistic diagnoses and prescriptions are. The steering wheel is now in the patient's hands with the patient better understanding and matching of choices to individual preferences. Lastly data science will lead to the invention of new prescriptions, therapies, and procedures based on more comprehensive data about the patient.
Expect these "bionic assistance" systems to start slow and fail often but innovation will occur swiftly. The accumulation of data will speed these developments up. Computers are much better than people at organizing,synthesizing, and recalling information than humans and can even keep up with the latest research.
Biological sciences will still be a significant part of healthcare but it is not too far off to think that digital technologies can do more for medicine in the next few decades than biological science. In a field that used to be all doctors and nurses, we see the growing need for more and more data scientists.
Source referenced: Vinod Khosla's take on data science in medicine. Read the rest of the article at: http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/22/the-reinvention-of-medicine-dr-algorithm-version-0-7-and-beyond/
