cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/questions/p/1480838/why-did-no-one-ever-think-about-automating-diagnosis-in-healthcare-instead-of-being-depe
In a lot of health problems, the first steps involve listing symptoms and matching it as needed with blood tests, x-ray and other tests to finally lead to diagnosis and treatment. most if not all of the process could be automated to save time and get the best treatment.
To be clear: The automation I am talking about could be just an online symptoms form that give you the tests you need to have before deciding what to do.
In practice: This could be for example a person suffering from low vitamin D levels. Instead of visiting a doctor to order a blood test and then return to the doctor to prescribe him vitamin D, all that could be:
Filling online symptoms form(with pre-written symptoms database to select from) ➩ visiting any blood tests lab ➩ getting a vitamin D prescription.
Why didn’t any hospital or healthcare facility apply this?
My symptoms: I had an itch that wouldn’t go away, was tired all the time (partially from spending all night scratching until I bled and then scratching for a few hours past that point instead of sleeping, and occasionally had breathing problems. After two years of seeing doctors and getting all kinds of tests, a lymph node swole up, I had a weeklong stay in the hospital with even more doctors, and it was finally diagnosed as stage 4 cancer. A herd full of doctors couldn’t figure me out, a form would have been worse.