I recently came across an article titled “Doctors Dislike Technology because it Delivers a Fast-Food Future of Healthcare” by Dr. Linda Girgis, a New Jersey family physician who has also penned numerous books. The article discusses a “fast food healthcare” industry where telemedicine, P4P systems that encourage doctors to see as many patients as possible, and other health “fast lanes”, will contribute to a lack of empathy and humanness that healthcare uniquely requires. She doesn’t say that these new innovations or industry models don’t have a place in medicine, but that the reduced time doctors have for in-person interaction with their patients will eventually lead to decreased health outcomes, or, as she eloquently puts it, “sometimes a listening ear is the best medicine in the world.”
We’ve all read about the increasingly limited time doctors have with patients. As we move into the New Year, this article serves as a great reminder that fueling more valuable, substantial, and human interactions between doctors and patients (whether in an office or over video chat) is a critical piece to a better health experience.
Give the article a read here: http://medcitynews.com/2015/12/mcmedicine/
