The choice may come down to either no MD diagnoses or a computer assisted diagnoses by a registered nurse or trained nurses aid. The baby boomers are entering that period of their life when they use the most healthcare dollars, spend far more time in the hospital, clinics etc., while at the same time hundreds of thousands of nurses will be retiring. Did I mention that relative to the projected demand there are very few new people entering the nursing profession? There will probably be massive nursing shortages in the next 10-20 years. Trained people using PKC or similar programs along with wireless-based PDA/tablet-type computers (which could also cut way down on record-keeping) could be life-savers.
What a narrow-minded doctor-centric point of view. Here in New Mexico MDs are leaving in droves for higher pay elsewhere. There is a severe nurses shortage. Rural clinics are crying for help.
I can see the day when a nurse in a remote community will use something like PKC as a partial substitute for MD the who isn't there. I can also see where a nurses aid in a hospital will use PKC along with vital signs, lab results and new symptoms correlated with the patient's known diagnoses to evaluate the current patient condition and to have the MD called to report if there is a decline in condition.
If private MDs turn this down, there will be plenty of government, military and HMO clinics and hospitals which will use this out of necessity and economics.
Slashdot Mirror
The choice may come down to either no MD diagnoses or a computer assisted diagnoses by a registered nurse or trained nurses aid. The baby boomers are entering that period of their life when they use the most healthcare dollars, spend far more time in the hospital, clinics etc., while at the same time hundreds of thousands of nurses will be retiring. Did I mention that relative to the projected demand there are very few new people entering the nursing profession? There will probably be massive nursing shortages in the next 10-20 years. Trained people using PKC or similar programs along with wireless-based PDA/tablet-type computers (which could also cut way down on record-keeping) could be life-savers.
What a narrow-minded doctor-centric point of view. Here in New Mexico MDs are leaving in droves for higher pay elsewhere. There is a severe nurses shortage. Rural clinics are crying for help. I can see the day when a nurse in a remote community will use something like PKC as a partial substitute for MD the who isn't there. I can also see where a nurses aid in a hospital will use PKC along with vital signs, lab results and new symptoms correlated with the patient's known diagnoses to evaluate the current patient condition and to have the MD called to report if there is a decline in condition. If private MDs turn this down, there will be plenty of government, military and HMO clinics and hospitals which will use this out of necessity and economics.