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In-Depth Information
Patient-Clinician Communication
in the Future
and the clinician would have to abide by a clear set
of regulations in light of privacy policies (Stead,
W et al, 2009) and other ethical challenges that
may arise in the clinical setting.
Over the past few decades we have witnessed
a noticeable change in the means of interaction
encompassing a patient and a clinician. It went
from the patient being bodily present at the
clinic, to physicians coming over at the patient's
residence for check-ups, to communicating with
one another via e-mail, all the way to the physi-
cians being able to examine the patient's medical
details, and giving online consultations and pre-
scriptions. Currently, patients consult with their
physician for a fixed amount of time, and take
back with them the physician's advice, strongly
relying on their memory. In case of the patient be-
ing doubtful of something which was said during
that consultation, the patient would refer back to
the clinician to get a clear response to the query.
This would lead to an increase in confusion and
a waste of time for individuals on both ends of
the spectrum, especially for clinicians as they
deal with busy schedules. (Stead, W et al, 2009)
A solution to this problem would be a recording
of the consultation (Stead, W et al, 2009), a copy
of which could be kept with individuals on either
side of the physician-patient equation. The patient
could have access to a video recording, an audio
recording, or simply a text print of whatever was
said during the meeting. (Stead, W et al, 2009)
This way the physicians would be able to allocate
more time to patients who have a need of further
support. (Stead, W et al, 2009) They would also
be able to fit in more number of patients in their
daily consultation and/or testing schedules. (Stead,
W et al, 2009) In the initial stages, clinics may
simply offer a summary of the clinician-patient
meeting. (Stead, W et al, 2009) Before leaving the
medical premises, the patient could post-read the
transcript with the clinician to clear any doubts
there and then. (Stead, W et al, 2009) However,
the copy of the consultation, whether in video,
audio, or textual forms, could lead to further dif-
ficulties. (Stead, W et al, 2009) Both the patient
Video Prescriptions
It is collectively known that physicians are con-
stantly found working dynamically, sometimes
even outside their work hours. In such cases,
it would be close to impossible to find time for
work apart from patient consultations. As a solu-
tion to busy schedules and travelling problems,
physicians could recommend certain instructions
to the patient in video form. (Edward, H., 2004)
In cases where the physician has consulted the
patient once, he/she can recommend the patient
a suitable video prescription according to avail-
ability, instead of having the patient visit the
clinic premises again. These video prescriptions
could be based on modern internet provisions,
and the patients could view the video on their
television screens. (Edward, H., 2004) Physicians
could either recommend another doctor's videos
or self-made videos. In some scenarios such as
the physician having to leave town, he/she could
simply let their assistant know what video is to
be transmitted to which patient and when. How-
ever for live consultation, this would still be a
problem. Video conferencing consultations could
also become the norm amongst patients and physi-
cians in the future. (Edward, H., 2004) The ideal
modernized internet would possess remarkably
high speeds and thus would be facilitate aiming
towards live video prescriptions on a television
screen. (Edward, H., 2004)
Content-Based Retrieval
Digital images contribute significantly to numer-
ous branches of biomedicine, some of which
include radiology and cardiology. (Muller, H et
al, 2003) Content-based image retrieval essen-
tially refers to retrieval based on texture, shape,
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