I bought a Texas Instruments TI-59 pocket calculator in high school with the money from my newspaper route. It was amazing, capable of algebra and trigonometry. I still remember my teachers telling me that the calculator would make me lose my ability to solve math problems on my own. However, that concern – even fear in some circles – eventually gave way to recognition that calculators could be used to improve education and daily life.
A few years before my TI-59, I became a big fan of Jerry Lucas, a great NY Knicks power forward. Lucas was so good that he was eventually inducted in basketball’s Hall of Fame, however he is also famous for his preternatural memory. He described his system for memorizing the Bible in his book Remember the Word and appeared on numerous TV shows demonstrating his extraordinary ability.
So what do calculators and Jerry Lucas have to do with health care?
Over the years, I’ve met medical students and physicians with a great memory, however I’m not sure how far it got them. I really question its value now that AI clinical decision support (CDS) can provide answers to clinical questions in seconds. To be sure, clinicians need to know the importance of choosing a trustworthy AI CDS tool, and they need to know how to ask the right questions and apply the information they receive to the unique patient in front of them. That can only be done if they know their patients as people, something made possible with the extra time freed up by AI CDS. And like my TI-59, AI is viewed with skepticism by some today, however just as calculators became an integral part of the classroom, AI CDS is becoming an integral part of the exam room today, a fast break from the past.
Roy Ziegelstein, MD, MACP
Editor in Chief, DynaMed
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