This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
BLOG: Practice efficiency — The adventures of Dr. Lycra, part 1
The year is 2066, 50 years in the future. Let’s try to picture the ophthalmologist of the future. In profile, he (or she) looks more like a gymnast than a clinician. He’s wearing a Lycra body suit, high-traction shoes, and a wireless earpiece and microphone that were implanted years earlier for convenience and better sound quality. With a word into the mike, “Dr. Lycra” can call up data on the next patient, including the provisional diagnosis and treatment plan, which have dropped out of a formula from all prior automated work-ups and pre-testing. Around his waist, looking a little like a futuristic cop’s crowded holster, is a tool belt, festooned with a hands-free indirect, an occluder (a sentimental antique from his great-great-grandfather’s practice) and a solid-state, infinitely tunable, hand-held laser. An array of drops and ointments can be delivered to his fingertips with a simple voice command. During each exam, the practice’s voice recognition software records the doctor’s chart notes and without being asked provides prompts for any missing data or overlooked questions. Annoying, but effective. And it’s virtually eliminated malpractice suits.
After the exam, color-coded lights that seemingly float mid-air in the center of the hallway direct patients to their next destination in the practice. “A pleasure seeing you this morning, Ms. Hays,” Dr. Lycra says. “Based on our tests, that cataract in your left eye will be ready for laser extraction in about 38 or 39 months; we’re not precisely sure yet. Please follow the green flashing light to Robby in optical. He already has your complete record going all the way back to 2016 when you were a little girl. He also has your new prescription and has picked out the 10 most popular frames in the North American Alliance for women with your beautiful skin coloring and bone structure. I know you’re going to love what you see! It’s amazing, really. You know, we almost stopped selling glasses a few years ago, until they became big fashion again. But listen to me talk. Here I am only 83 and going on like a guy who’s ready to retire. I’ll see you right here in 37 months for your pre-surgical exam.”
At 10:04 a.m., just 26 minutes after she arrived in the clinic for a complete exam, Ms. Hays is back on the street. She interacted with only two real people, her doctor and her optician. The rest of the time, she simply followed the logical directions of one video screen and one gentle disembodied voice after another. Meanwhile, in not much more time than it’s taking you to read this paragraph, Dr. Lycra has seen another patient and squeezed in a few more seconds to push the button that rebalances his nutritional and energy state. He’s all set for the last 47 patients of the morning before meeting his wife for lunch at noon. And just incidentally, he’ll have to remove just three cataracts that afternoon to pay for lunch. Unless they order dessert. That would take one more case.
To be continued ...