Doctors--A species on the verge of extinction? A visit to the 22nd century clinic.

Overview

Medicine is undergoing profound change, but the basic format of the medical encounter has remained unchanged. Nevertheless, medicine in the 22nd century may be fully computerized, and a possible model is shortly depicted in this paper. Computer applications are constantly increasing their share in medical diagnosis, and may ultimately replace physicians. Treatment decisions have been submitted to standardized treatment guidelines, which may be applied more efficiently by computer applications. Although hundreds of studies have evaluated computerized tools in diagnosis and treatment, the possibility that computer applications may replace human physicians in the future is rarely raised. The effects of this process on doctors and medicine may be tremendous and will probably be felt even in early stages, and therefore, this process should be a subject of open discussion.