Central PA Medicine Summer 2021 - 15

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" Hello, this is Dr. DeLong. How can I
help you? " An exasperated voice answered
back. " I'm calling to cancel my hernia surgery.
The reminder I received mentioned
robotic surgery. I will NOT allow a robot
to do my surgery.
opportunity " 2. With over $36 billion
invested by the U.S. government alone in
the last decade, the system has become an
I'll find a real surgeon! "
He hung up the phone, leaving me stunned.
If this innovative-yet entirely human-driven-surgical
technology could
cause such distrust, I shuddered to imagine
what additional challenges patients and
physicians alike will face with the increasing
role of AI in modern healthcare.
The concept of AI, admittedly, can be difficult
to grasp. How we define AI and what
does-and does not-constitute AI technology
can be conceptually nebulous questions
to answer. Historical perspective can help to
bring clarity by framing the current state of
AI development within a broader timeline of
computerized healthcare innovations. The
early 1970s brought about the first attempts
to develop and implement electronic health
records (EHR) and it is interesting to note
that while the term " artificial intelligence "
was yet to be popularized, these actions set
in motion substantial, lasting changes in
healthcare delivery-the incorporation of
computerized systems into physicians' daily
practice. An early paper describing EHRs by
McDonald et al, published in the American
Journal of Public Health in 1977, described
an " automatic physician guidance " system1
.
Designed to warn against drug interactions
and prompt physicians to schedule proper
follow-up tests, the authors optimistically
touted that " a computer system such as
ours will significantly reduce the physician's
error rate and his time investment in clinical

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Central PA Medicine Summer 2021

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