I recently spoke to my mom about
the different information technologies that she uses every day when she goes to
work. My mom is a radiologist and relies heavily on computers in order to read
X-rays, MRIs, cat scans, and ultrasounds. Once she reads each image, she then
reports what she finds into a computer system that is very specific to where
she works. She said that many practices each have their own system as to how
they report their findings.
What I
think is cool about my mom’s job is that although she uses computer’s every
day, she would be able to continue doing her job even without them. If the
power goes out for long periods of time, or other situations like that, doctors
need to still be able to go on with their job because many people’s health and well
being relies on them.
It wasn’t until
the last few years that computers were heavily used in my mom’s practice. Up
until even 2010, most of her work was done by reading the printed images
through a lit up wall. She would record her findings on a tape recorder and
send (via snail mail, wow!) the images as well as the tape to a secretary who
would then type out everything she said into a document.
This
interview with my mom made me realize that not every profession nowadays can
solely rely on technology, especially professions in the world of health care.
I am sure that technology will become more incorporated into a doctor’s
profession as the world progresses but I am confident that doctors will always
have to be able to do their job without the use of advanced information technologies.
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