Are computers going to take over doctors jobs? Probably not, but can have a better outcome working together says an article from the NEJM.
Medical decision making has become maddeningly complex and it is difficult for a doctor to always make an up-to-date correct decision.
Algorithms can help decision making when it has accurate physical data that can be analysed. It has already been applied to help reading the electrocardiograms or suggesting the type of diabetes. However, algorithms based on human decision making, such as diagnostic tools, will also learn human mistakes. Rather than predicting a biologic phenomenon, it is predicting the chain of human decision leading to a certain decision. Thus, it should be regarded as thinking partners, rather than replacements for doctors.
Doctors should not reject new technologies. If medicine wishes to stay in control of its own future, doctors will not only have to embrace algorithms, they will also have to excel at developing and evaluating them, bringing machine-learning methods into the medical domain.