Human Touch
Introduction
A customer was saying that all products of technology are not necessarily good for mankind, can you imagine that you can lose money that you saved in a fixed deposit (which supposed to be safe)? In Japan, there is a robotic monk giving lectures to the general public on the theme of wisdom.
I replied to her that scientists are now working on to use artificial intelligence to help diagnose diseases and eventually make clinical decisions.
- An artificial intelligence can learn to differentiate by crosschecking through thousands of similar cases in a relatively short period.
- Moreover, once an artificial intelligence picked up a knowledge, it means it is just a matter of seconds (or minutes) to replicate the same skill sets to another machine.
- Comparatively, a graduate may take years to learn.
Nonetheless, can human fully trust artificial intelligence? Or, should the value of clinical judgement be underestimated?
IT Advancement
The only constant in life is change. Advancement in technology has certainly changed certain aspects in pharmacy field too. To illustrate, to remain competitive in the market
- Community pharmacies are setting up online shops in Lazada and Shopee.
- Some of the larger chain pharmacies even collaborate with telemedicine platform where patients talk to a doctor on an online consultation platform and pharmacy will deliver the prescription medicine to patients' home.
Yup, e-shopping is so convenient these days. We can just wait at home for the ordered things to be delivered.
People Interaction
However, older generations like myself, still find a big part of living is missing; the excitement to browse through things and chance to interact with people.
- To me, it is the school/working place/shop/restaurant that connect people from all walks of life. At these places, we are given a chance to share our feelings and interact with others.
- At the community pharmacy, I have observed that many customers are unable to differentiate between rashes caused by allergies, eczema, or fungal infections. This frequently necessitates seeking professional medical advice rather than relying on speculation.
As of now, the argument of thoughts and feelings separate human from machine still holds.
- Can a machine understand the emotional burden and hardship that we are facing daily?
- It sounds laughable to tell a machine that I am heartbroken today because ......
NOTE: At a community pharmacy, remembering your customer's name can create a warm and personal connection that is difficult to quantify. Over time, you may get to know your customers very well, from when they were single to when they became parents.
Experience Talks
Though one may say there is no information that you cannot find on the internet, there is no one-to-one first-hand teaching available. There are skills that you must observe and practice directly under supervision to master them.
A customer said, a fresh graduate pharmacist may have learned all the needed knowledge at university, but they have not met extensive cases yet. It is only till years later, they probably have seen all different kinds of cases and know how to handle them properly. Yes, experience.
With internet, we are overwhelmed by the vast information available. Often, we are lost at where to start and how to manage. There are also times that we overlook the truth value of information, unless it is repeated emphasized on the importance.
- For example, do you still remember the treatment goals of levothyroxine replacement in hypothyroidism? Are we looking at TSH, TRH, T3 or T4 level?
- When dealing with case presentation, a pharmacist will need to learn to interpret the laboratory data. Among the laboratory parameters, which laboratory result should I focus on due to disease or medications that the patient has. By going through a case, what are the pharmaceutical care issues?
On Another Perspective
Well, at the end of the day, life is perfectly imperfect. So do we.
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