Please watch Dr. Lee’s second lecture in its entirety.
Then, make two posts below according to the following instructions. These comments are due before the following class period (i.e. before 4:00pm on Thursday, 11/11).
The first one is your own individual thoughts and response to the lecture. This post should be at least 75 words long. You should interact with main ideas, although what you say is up to you. You may want to criticize an idea, agree with something, or offer further insight or thoughts about some topic discussed by our guest. Or, you may want to pose a question for others about the lecture. I expect the post to interact with the content of the actual lecture, and not just the day’s topic or other thoughts you may be having.
The second post is an interactive comment, posted as a response to another student’s comment. There is no length requirement on this post.
Economic stability, social and community contacts, neighborhood and environment, health care, and education all play a role in community health. If you’re not financially stable you cannot eat healthy And live healthy which can play a major role on your health outcomes. where you live your community also can play a major role on your health. your neighborhood environment can also play a role in your healths availability to healthcare. If you’re not educated enough to know the effects that certain things have on your health can also be a downward turn on health. Statistical geographics play a major role in healthcare because usually people who live in the same area is financially common. Meaning that the average person in the area may in the area may be within a certain tax bracket which can mean that if people are “poor” It’s considered a poor neighborhood or middle class neighborhood or wealthy neighborhood. People usually compare poo and uneducated and also wealthy with educated because because of their geographics. Education is included in all kinds of ways because if a person cannot read and write they can’t read up on healthy lifestyles if a person is poor they may not have time to exercise because they’re constantly working towards making ends meet, so a lifestyle is everything compared to health.
Hi Mecca, great insight! I agree, there are a lot of factors and determinants that affect our health, habits, and lifestyle. I found it very interesting the availability of healthcare is based on your geography (where you live) and where we land on the tax bracket. I wonder if the use of artificial intelligence and virtual healthcare may reduce costs and assist people to receive health treatments and medical attention.
Hey, I totally agree with you because all these factors play into our lifestyle and personal health.
The use of AI, or Artificial Intelligence, in healthcare is very interesting and beneficial in the medical field. AI is able to analyze data beyond human capabilities. Some of these benefits include accurate diagnostics, assistance to doctors in reducing human errors, cost reduction, and virtual presence. However, I have worried if this addition to healthcare may decrease jobs and if the AI has medical errors. These medical errors may harm the patient and the patient’s health. I wonder if the use of artificial intelligence is worth the risk? Additionally, Dr. Lee focused on healthy lifestyle changes and structural determinants. These determinants reflect everything around us that affects our health, such as air pollution, lack of recreational facilities, education, and places to eat. However, these adjustments are not always possible but instead, human communication focuses on what people can change and on what is in our range. We can act on individual determinants to live a healthy lifestyle, such as diet, exercise, and smoking. I have learned that some aspects are out of our control due to geography, but there are many ways to take control of our health.
Hi Jordyn,
I also wonder what our future going to be like with AI being a big part of it. People can get all the education on healthy life style and they still do what they want. I work in health care and there are patients who are diagnosed with COPD and they are still smoking.
Hi Jordyn,
I was thinking that using technology in health is limited to function things such as dental machines or rad technology ,but watching the lecture Made me think that AI is a huge advanced technology that regulates functionality and it can process surgery as will.I wonder if health professionals become AI assistances in the future, and who will correct risky errors done by the AI technology.
Thanks Jordan for you comment. AI is used to scan thousands of xrays and find patterns not noticable to the naked eye. There was a lot of hype around this a couple years ago, but I found an interesting article which says, don’t believe the hype.
“AI has a long way to go before doctors can trust it with your life”
https://qz.com/2016153/ai-promised-to-revolutionize-radiology-but-so-far-its-failing/
The whole topic of AI is interesting to me mainly because I am a CST major and Artificial Intelligence falls under the IT field. The exposure of machinery is still relatively new in the medical field, prompting many doctors to learn how to use these machines in order to do their job more effectively. Using a machine to do surgery does have some benefits where incisions can be made more accurately but now Artificial Intelligence is arriving towards the scene. Having a smart AI handle surgeries and other procedures and eliminating all human error that could occur is a fantastic thing, but what would that mean for the doctors who have spent a good portion of their lives learning how to treat patients? What would the doctor have to do to stay relevant? would he have to operate the robot in some capacity? or does the robot aid the doctor in the procedure? Whatever the case may be, a bigger concern is the fact that any error within the AI’s own algorithm could cause serious damage if not kill the patient outright. As stated in the video, “AI are just as smart as the person who programmed it” Obviously it means that someone with extensive knowledge of AI programming should create an AI for the medical field. Accidents are prone to happen and they are usually beyond our control, what we do in response and whether or not we learn from our mistakes is what will truly improve this new phenomenon in the medical field.
I agree, Eugene! AI is still considered new in our generation and it requires more research to even be considered a replacement in the medical field. Your point about the doctor-patient relationship is a good topic to bring up because like it or not, patients prefer that connection in their care and whether AI’s can provide the same link is questionable. Although, my hope is that one day AI sentience will evolve just like in the movies or video games we play where they have enough “heart” to give an emotional connection.
Hi Eugene, thanks for the thoughtful post. In the 1970s when I was growing up there was a sense of optimism about AI that I think is today more skeptical and realistic. AI can do amazing stuff, but it is still, in a way, profoundly unintelligent. What I mean is, at least presently, it is capable of doing whatever it is programmed to do, but nothing of what it isn’t programmed for. It might be able to walk on a flat surface beautifully, but not have a clue about how to do stairs, for example. There are amazing exceptions. Look at this video where the guy kicks the doggie robot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR5Z6AoMh6U
I’m just reading my comment and it sounds rather unintelligent. When I say AI can’t do anything it isn’t programmed to do…well that isn’t accurate. I mean, machine learning? I suppose it is programmed to do that.
Here is an interesting article about machine learning in Science: https://www.science.org/content/article/how-researchers-are-teaching-ai-learn-child
If I may rephrase what I meant–AI does teach itself. But there is a limit to what it can learn presently.
Dr. Lee’s points about the severity of human error led me to reflect on the importance of health education and how it is a key factor in minimizing potential health risks. Furthermore, he mentioned that a small number of individuals don’t have the necessary qualifications to provide care and even though this might be a minuscule amount, the danger to the patient can potentially be life-threatening. As someone with experience in a medical environment, I can confirm that this topic is always a talking point in my career path. Having that knowledge is paramount to patient safety as well as comfort, and your expertise towards them can mean the difference between providing care blindly and efficiently doing your work. This leads me to his discussion about AI and how certain parameters such as reducing human errors or providing a better diagnosis seem to be a good path to follow for the medical field. Although, understandably, he mentioned that certain “rules” need to be put in place to make sure these tools provide benefits to humans rather than more complications. The question boggling my mind is how far can we advance them to the point where the “human” aspect of care can no longer be provided? Realizing that we live in a world where a human touch is a norm for the medical field as it provides a connection between the patient and the care provider, will removing that crucial element be a good tradeoff for an efficient and accurate level of care that these AI’s provide? It’s a question I would be interested to know the answer to in the future.
Hi Paul,
You had a lot of interesting points. I like how you used Dr. Lee’s lecture to enforce it into your every day life, within your job. Also how you mentioned how far will we take the “rules” put in place before we can no longer provide for the individuals. I also wonder if the use of artificial intelligence will help to reduce some of the healthcare costs for those individuals who fall under the low bracket income line.
Hi Paul, thanks for the thought provoking post. I agree that knowledge is essential in any field. But I also suspect that having “book knowledge” is not the same as embodied, practical knowledge. It isn’t just knowing the right information, but it is the ability to apply it in practical ways in real life situations. I once met an M.D. who did all the course work but never did a residency and she didn’t consider herself a doctor. I often tell my students that communication isn’t something you can learn from a book. It is a contact sport.
Hi Paul, thanks for these comments. To physicians who say “I don’t need to talk to the patient.” Just give me their chart and I’ll tell you what they need, I would say that is a mechanistic view of the patient. The patient is a person, and using verbal and non-verbal communication they can describe what it is like to be them. They are experts on their condition and their own bodies in a way that any other person is not.
Dr. Lee discussed using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare in which it can be something wonderful and good. We are living in a world where AI is a major part of our lives. AI is use for fast diagnostic, reduce human error, cost reduction and virtual presence. AI can do things that human minds is not capable of doing. He also talked about health communication which is a healthy life style change and structural determinants which is lack of healthy foods. Are we to blame for our health problems? The problem is health provider does not communicate to the patients on their level.
Hi Nichole,
I agree with your take on Artificial Intelligence. I believe that AI can improve the lives of every human being in almost every regard including medical. There are many reasons as to why most American’s lifestyles aren’t the most healthiest, some of which are their own fault but there are doctors who fail to communicate effectively with their patients on what foods are healthier to eat. Sadly there is little to no way that unhealthy food in the supermarket can be prohibited from being sold, but healthier foods aren’t getting the same sort of attention that junk food is getting.
What if there was a robot who could prohibit us from harming ourselves with junk food, for our own good? The robot is programmed to serve humans and obey their commands, unless the command involves hurting themselves or other humans. So I order my robot to go get a box of Entenmanns, and it refuses. I explain to the robot that it is supposed to obey my every command, but the robot says “yes, as long as it doesn’t cause harm, and those donuts are loaded with trans fats.”
Hello Nicole,
I also found AI to be a very fascinating part of this lecture. I agree that we are living in a world where AI is a major part of our lives, we live in a world where technology is constantly evolving and we are suppose to take advantage of that. AI in healthcare only helps patients and healthcare professionals get the most accurate results and aides them in their patient care.
Hi Nichole, thanks for your post. You sound very pro-AI. There is hype about AI being able to do wonderful things, but I am somewhat skeptical. I remember when driverless cars were said to be the next big thing. That in a matter of ten years, they would be all over. That was about ten years ago. Yes there are driverless cars but there hasn’t yet been the mass adoption that was predicted. Here is an interesting interview with Peter Norton, a historian who wrote the book “Autonorama: The Illusory Promise Of High-Tech Driving” https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048723026/what-does-the-future-of-driverless-cars-look-like
Dr. Lee makes important points about the severity of human error involving health education. After watching this video I now know how important it is to be cautious about health education because it can lead to life threatening situations if you are not aware of them. I myself, am not in the medical field and I never knew how important this topic was until I watched Dr. Lee’s lecture. Health is very important to the individual because the best care comes from the best insurance, your income affects your insurance benefits, etc. Some benefits discussed include accurate diagnostics, assistance to the doctors reducing human errors, cost reduction, and virtual presence. Is the use of artificial intelligence worth the risk? Or will it cause people to lose jobs and/or harm the patient and their health. The healthy lifestyle changes affect everything around us. Sometimes these adjustments may not be possible, but we can take control of individual determinants ourselves, by taking better care of our overall health.
Hi Allie,
Health is important to everyone! Unfortunately, some don’t have the option to receive the best care. Also, Al could be a risk to the health care field since it can cause people to lose their jobs.
Thanks Allie, nice to hear from you. The quality of care one receives should not depend on the type of insurance coverage the patient has. In an emergency the provider is required to treat every patient regardless of their ability to pay. See this link from the Patient Advocate Foundation: https://www.patientadvocate.org/explore-our-resources/preventing-medical-debt/uninsured-and-facing-an-emergency-know-your-rights/
Dr. Lee discussed artificial intelligence in this lecture. While it is still in the works it’s being used today. Artificial Intelligence, for example, may be found in the medical industry. Because we aim to reduce health-related accidents caused by human mistakes, we turned to AI. Although it is not now under considerable development, it will be in the coming years. Dr. Lee also discussed community health. Your degree of education, where you reside, and your socioeconomic standing all have an impact on your health.
As a IT major I see the connection between this class and my other classes. Using artificial intelligence in healthcare is very important because it spans many different aspects of healthcare. AI is used to carry on conversations with patients, virtual healthcare assistant, treatment design and mining medical records. It plays a beneficial role in the healthcare industry because it can reduce human error, which can be harmful to the patients if a doctor misspells a word or accidentally inputs something that is wrong. AI double checks what the healthcare professionals are doing while increasing accuracy. Another benefit of AI is it’s virtual presence, it can be there while the doctor is not and still give the nurses or patients the most accurate information that is needed to conduct their business.
These are all great points on how beneficial the use of AI in healthcare is. I can’t help but wonder about some things though. How will employment be impacted? Is AI error just as serious as human error or more serious? How will the patient’s experience be when interacting with AI compared to a health care provider?
Hi Jaggernath, I agree with your ideas of artificial intelligence to help advance healthcare with mitigated errors. Another good thing for AI is to help the community to receive the right knowledge and the understanding of healthcare, mitigating health illiteracy.
I agree with you Benny, we have to communicate with our patients to make them understand and health literacy is a big challenge we face everyday as healthcare providers.
Not sure if I mentioned this in my talk, but there are some tasks in health care that are boring and repetitive, such as showing someone recovering from stroke how to move their limbs again. This is the kind of thing that a robot might not mind. But then again, why not record a video of the physiotherapist performing the exercises, and have the patient watch the video? One very sad problem is that people can be lonely. Would it be ethical to give them a kind, attentive robot who would listen to them and interact with them? I wonder if anybody uses Alexa or Siri that way?
When it comes to looking at individual determinants of health it’s important to avoid victim blaming. Good intentions can be undermined by poor or harsh delivery. The different determinants of health and health literacy can influence this. Having poor health literacy, for example, can make it difficult to acknowledge or admit to behaviors that are destructive. Being less educated and less economically stable can make it more difficult for individuals to be aware of access to certain tools that could help them improve their health.
Hello Tara,
I totally agree with your emphasis on avoiding victim-blaming and the lack of privileges many people in society have that prevent them from obtaining good health. To add to that, it’s important for healthcare communicators to stress the importance of health literacy. And to explain it to the people in a clear and understandable manner so that the community can better grasp the key information and reflect.
Hi Tara, thanks for your comment. You’re right, that some people with low health literacy may simply not know that they are supposed to eat vegetables, or not sniff glue or eat lead paint chips. Imagine if you are so hungry you eat peeling paint. Some kids don’t know better and put everything in their mouth. But even the parents might not know the dangers of their child doing that. See https://gothamist.com/news/lead-paint-delicious-but-deadly
As a dental professional, I have encountered many patients that believes in medical myth or false medical information, and fortunately, the duty of a dental hygienist is to also educate his/her community with correct information that is evidence based. One of the most common thing the elderly patient believes is that as you grow older, the teeth becomes loose, and its natural. Then, I would explain to them that it is caused by accumulation of bacteria and lack of proper brushing and flossing, and that other elderly people who had good oral hygiene had very healthy strong teeth. So, I totally agree with Professor Lee in health illiteracy. People needs to be educated to learn to receive the right information to acquire timely health screening instead of waiting for the last moment until it is too late to receive treatment.
I agree with you Benny we have to communicate with our patients to make they understand and health literacy is big challenge everyday in healthcare profession.
Hi Benny, that is an interesting comment about teeth. I think the image we have of elderly people may be lacking in teeth, but you say this is not inevitable. That given correct oral hygiene, I could keep my teeth until a ripe old age. I believe that tooth loss can be a “co-morbidity” or poor nutrition, because you need your teeth to each nutritious food. Although I suppose you could just have green smoothies and ride out your existence that way.
Dr. Lee discusses Artificial Intelligence which piqued my interest considering the times we are in right now. Today, we are immersed in all forms of new technological advancements like he mentioned; Alexa and Siri. In fact, just recently I saw Uniqlo implemented a new A.I. self-checkout system to help reduce wait times and promote efficiency. Such technology would be highly beneficial to healthcare practices in reducing human error as it is very prevalent in healthcare offices which can have severe consequences. In addition, Dr. Lee introduces us to healthcare literacy which is a concept I never knew about which emphasizes his point that it’s not communicated enough and/or clearly to people.
Hi Kaitlyn, I forget if I mentioned this in the video, but there is a critique of health literacy. At the risk of oversimplifying, the critique of the health literacy perspective is that it “blames the victim.” That is, poor health is a result of someone’s ignorance. Therefore, the leverage point is giving individuals the correct information. But why not place the burden elsewhere? Maybe it is the health provider’s job to communicate in a way that is understandable. Maybe the failure is on our education system. Some have proposed “critical health literacy” to counter some of the victim blaming tendencies of functional health literacy.
The topic is very interesting to me as we know robots are being used in the medical field but how accurate are they. If they are being used in the operating room how reliable is it. There are many questions regarding AI being used in the medical field. However, this is one of the advanced technology that has been created to help the patient and the doctor with critical procedures and everyday medical needs in the hospitals. As he mentions AI reduces human error but who will be responsible for AI error and there is much possible consequence either it’s a good or a bad one.
I agree Tanjum, as Dr. Lee stated AI is only as smart as the person that programmed it. So many medical errors are made every single day, especially in the operating room which makes many people believe that artificial intelligence is so much better. I believe while AI is extremely important and useful in healthcare, we must not allow to “take over” healthcare. The need for the human touch is still important.
I’m actually scared that they are using robots in an operating room. Not used to seeing something that isn’t human performing surgery. I wonder how life would look like in 20 years with how advanced technology is getting.
After watching the Guest lecture I got interested about the concept of health communication and how advanced health technology got too. Dr. Lee discussed the benefits of of AI technology which are fast and Diagnostics ,reduce human errors,cost reduction and virtual presence. However he discussed his disagreement with the AI because if AI reduce human errors so then who will correct the AI risky errors. Moreover the AI could be a killer as it’s an advanced technology. Also the AI reduce the presence of health professionals and as Dr.lee mentioned that he had several virtual appointments which make me wonder if in the future Robots become health professionals.
Advancement in AI technology seems daunting but necessary as it is widely use in everyday technology. AI can help improve healthcare by providing faster data then humans can process and reduce the time it takes for lab results populate.
I think an example of this phenomenon are electronic self-checkouts. Is that a robot? Yes. Can it communicate? Well it can tell you what to do but it isn’t a great listener. Is it intelligent? It can greet you, give you instructions on how to use it, scan a barcode from each product and find the price, accept credit cards, etc. But beyond that it is beyond dumb, right? And don’t get me started on those robots we have to talk to when we buy tickets or book a flight or call customer support.
Professor lee mentioned that “spanking is for your own good” he commented that he doesn’t agree with that. I come from a Mexican household and in Mexico or Mexican households most parents don’t see a problem with that because they believe that’s how a kid prevents from doing things they’re not supposed to be doing. Yet here in the United States they see it as wrongful or even such as child abuse. But I believe there’s other ways you can educate your children rather than resorting to spanking.
Yes, I’m latina and most latino families do believe spanking a child who isn’t listening or behaving is good. I also choose to go a different route when I have kids and explain to them instead of hitting them. There are other healthy ways you can discipline a child.
Patients with low health literacy are more likely to go to the E.R and have longer hospital stays this commonly seen in poor community. This group is less like to follow up diagnostic exams due to resource and medical knowledge. I work in out patient radiology practice many woman believe there no reason to follow up on mammogram primarily is because lack of medical knowledge because there social economic, when thing are too late you can turn the clock back, some patients tell me that its their doctor fault because they explained results in medical terminology and not in a way they could have understand, so communication you give your patients should understood as Dr.Lee stated in her lecture.
Artificial Intelligence in healthcare is a general term describing the use of machines, algorithms and software in healthcare. Some of the benefits are faster and more accurate diagnoses, the reduction of human error, cost reduction and in some cases quicker healing time. On the contrary, AI can also lead to error and injury, privacy issues and a general change in the way we do healthcare. As it relates to profit motive, I agree that the selling of drugs and medical devices can be problematic. There should be tougher laws and regulation of medical devices and manufacturers of these devices should be held accountable for devices that are known to harm people. I also believe the Food and Drug Administration should be held accountable for approving drugs/devices where the research was funded by insurance companies or any other company with a personal stake in its approval (conflict of interest). Some Injustices in healthcare are that stand out to me are the lack of access by the poor and rural communities, disparities such as higher infant mortality in the black community, and the overall rise in cost of healthcare. Lastly, while I do believe that health campaigns can run the risk of victim blaming, especially as it relates to poorer communities where the structural determinants are already so high and under-addressed, there is still a need for health campaigns; we just need to analyze the way we present solutions.
Hi Shabon, thanks for these comments. I agree that, while there are risks of unintended consequences with health campaigns, we still need to get the word out there. I think the best kind of campaigns can be designed with members from the community that is affected. Let’s say there is a graffiti artist who is beloved in a neighborhood. Instead of putting up the standard poster, hire the artist to do a mural. Part of health campaign design involves focus groups with members of at-risk populations. The designer may have a campaign in mind that doesn’t resonate with the people being targeted.
The fact that your financial situation, education, housing, food habits, etc. are factors that affect your health outcomes is sad because most people grow up not having a say to live in a situation where they can’t afford to eat better. Watching the lecture, I was impressed with how advanced technology in health has gotten. Definitely interesting and I agree with the perspective of not spanking your child. Most cultures do encourage to spank your kid if they don’t listen.
Dr. Lee second lecture about artificial intelligence in healthcare is a positive thing in which will be the future of healthcare management. AI are able to reduce cost, reduce medical errors and able to assist medical profession in treating patients efficiently. AI are able to received patient data, compile them based off the built in algorithm where doctors can view instantly anywhere. There is a draw back with AI integration, it can reduce patient care experience with physician since AI can replace direct patient care.
Thanks for your comments. I feel like we didn’t wrestle with the ethical issues that much, but it was still fun.