The Ideal Clinician

It is the best of times it is a worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was a spring of hope it is a winter of despair. We had everything before us. We had nothing before us. Charles Dickens could very well have been referring to artificial intelligence and natural intelligence. Personally, I think the term AI should be replaced by A and I. To me, A and I means Augmented assisted natural intelligence. Natural intelligence is far more superior than all the artificial intelligence which may occur even in the next decade. White hair like what I have was considered essential for experience judgment and problem-solving skills using rudimentary tools and limited resources.

In the AI era age is irrelevant as data interpretation is a function of algorithms. We are in a stage of transition. All transitions of a great opportunities, diagnostic technology and advanced others picked up. Technology should not go in search of an application but we should request for technology to solve an existing clinical problem. The bell curve today is going to give us a lot of problems because there are a lot of outliers outside the bell curve and with modern wearable technology and sure of my blood pressure is being taken right now there will be episodes where my systolic is 200 and diastolic is 120. So artificial intelligence should take the everything into account.

We still do not know what our normals of 80 year-old and 90 year old. So ladies and gentlemen, what is my take-home message? My take-home message is good and bad are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have good unless there is bad. Management is worse is for most important and finally the that IT enable technology can only be as useful as the person behind the machine. Algorithms no doubt are important but finally please remember whatever decision is taken has to be for the good of the patient and was also taken to account what the patient wants.

I think this is conclusive data, Wall Street Journal Harvard Business School, two of the most respected journals they found in a study in an analysis of 100 CEOs. Fortune 100 CEOs all of them the majority of them agreed that they do not I repeat, do not depend on complex data analytics could take major decisions regarding M&A regarding acquisitions and mergers but depended on their gut feeling. Meditation encourages divergent thinking with the greatest number of possible solutions to a problem. and so without it a person can have the best training in the world and incisive analytical mind and an endless supply of smart ideas. But he still won’t make a great leader.

Emotional intelligence is as important as intelligence which is given to you by artificial methods. The ideal clinician if I were to start Life all over again, this is what I would like to be. A combination of Sushruta, the founder of Indian surgery 2,000 years ago; technical competence, the compassion of mother Theresa; the wisdom of Lord Buddha; the genius of Albert Einstein; the innovation of Steve’s Job and finally this would result in Superman. The ideal clinician obviously has to be a Superman. Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity.