That’s so cool!! That’s how humans remember things, too

I’m a doctor and not that surprised, the questions are very algorithmic.

Do I think AI could make medical decisions? Absolutely.

At the expense of comparing myself to Paul Atreides, for which I apologize, being a doctor is like wedding the mentat and the Bene Gesserit - your android side is entangled with your emotion witch side.

Do I think AI could de-escalate the delirious dude with meningitis who was trying to flee out the door that I saw yesterday? Nope.

AIs would make amazing matrix doctors of still, sedated patients in tanks.

Do I think that doctors could be replaced by AIs and the role of physician would be taken over by a slightly-higher-trained nurse akin to a charge nurse, and all the other nursing staff would carry out the orders that the AI places? I fuckin hope so, then I would have an excuse to retire

Fuck, is that back?? I thought they got rid of it for good? Any robot with a good-enough skin and an American accent can pass that bullshit thing.

I’m a doctor who works with a ton of nurses -

1. It’s a vocation that needs to be taught from a human, to a human, mostly in the setting that the work will be done.

2. It’s important to have a basic understanding of medicine to be a nurse so you don’t accidentally kill someone when something happens out-of-the-algorithm.

Example: someone with too high of a blood sugar needs insulin. So if they’re in a state called diabetic ketoacidosis, they have an incredibly high blood sugar, so you’d think the first step is insulin, right? But insulin causes potassium to move into cells, and people’s total body potassium is super low in DKA because it’s getting peed out, despite their potassium blood levels looking fine. So if you push insulin, you’re going to cause all the potassium to shift into the cells, which can give someone a heart attack.

You can (and do) train people to memorize algorithms like “potassium and fluids, then insulin.” But I want the nurses who work with me to be their own smart, critically thinking, educated selves - it’s safer, it’s more rewarding, and your team gives better care.

3. Most schools nowadays, for anything, are outdated and largely bullshit. My medical classroom schooling from my school was disorganized and useless. I learned the material using 3rd-party online resources and Anki. My in-person training is what matters the most.

Y’all gotta branch out, the global top 50 playlist on Spotify is 🔥

The artist would be pleased to hear that ;)