Talk WHAT: H. Gordon Deen, MD (Mayo Clinic Jacksonville): "Information Technology in Medicine: One Neurosurgeon's Perspective" WHEN: Friday, February 4, 2005, 1:00 PM EST WHERE: MIT Media Lab (E15-235) HOSTED BY: Marvin Minsky SUMMARY: Applications of information technology (IT) in medicine date back to the 1960's. Computerized tomographic scanning (CT scanning) was introduced in North America in 1973. Fairly sophisticated computer systems for stereotactic neurosurgery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were in existence by the early 1980's, and early versions of the electronic medical record (EMR) were first seen in the early 1990's. The last decade has seen a surge of interest in computerized medical records and imaging. This process has been driven by quality of care issues, a need for more efficient flow of information, and the high costs of storing and transporting paper records and x-ray films. The process has been constrained by financial concerns, lack of agreement about clinical guidelines or ìbest practices,î lack of consensus about EMR design, reliability issues, and concerns about patient privacy. The EMR should be reliable, easy to use, fast, and inexpensive. It should permit desired access, and block undesired access. There also need to be national standards for the EMR, instead of the variety of incompatible systems that currently exist. We are currently in a period of transition from hard copy to electronic records, but the use of paper records remains widespread. Physicians must often jump back and forth between paper and electronic records, sometimes multiple times during the same patient encounter. This can be time consuming and inefficient. Inter-institutional transmission of electronic medical information is virtually nonexistent. Up to this point, efforts in EMR development have focused on reproducing traditional paper records and hard copy x-ray films in electronic format. Future EMR's will be able to guide patient care through application of pertinent clinical guidelines and will serve as an education tool for the physician and other health care providers. Other promising applications of medical IT include genomic diagnostics, computer interpretation of images, remote monitoring, remote surgery (telesurgery), and data mining. BIO: H. Gordon Deen, MD, is a consultant in neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and associate professor of neurosurgery at Mayo Medical School. He received an SB degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MD degree from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, followed by neurosurgical residency training at Mayo Clinic Rochester. Dr. Deen has been on the staff at Mayo for 16 years. His major clinical interests are complex spinal surgery and minimally invasive spinal surgery. Dr. Deen has published more than 80 original articles, book chapters, and abstracts, and serves on the editorial board of Practical Reviews in Neurosurgery. Dr. Deen is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and the Neurosurgical Society of America, and has multiple listings in "Best Doctors in America." MIT Media Laboratory Home Page | Events Main Index