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This would actually be a revolutionary idea. Imagine the iPhone becoming your primary doctor, eliminating the need for traditional visits. This has never happen

This would actually be a revolutionary idea. Imagine the iPhone becoming your primary doctor, eliminating the need for traditional visits. This has never happened before. Have a fever? Use this digital thermometer to measure your body temperature. Discolored urine? Open the camera, and iDoctor will evaluate its healthiness. If not, you can use another device that analyzes samples to identify the cause. Essentially, the iPhone would be the central processing unit for all your potential health concerns. If the app determines a probability of a specific disease, it would recommend a relevant specialist. This could eliminate the need for a traditional primary doctor, their assistants, and the associated overhead, saving money for both patients and insurance companies. Instead of paying for both a primary doctor and a specialist, they would only pay for this app and a specialist visit when necessary.

nullindividual 2y ago
> Imagine the iPhone becoming your primary doctor, eliminating the need for traditional visits. You seem to be under the misguided impression that the only purpose of visiting a doctor is for laboratory-based diagnostic tests. > If not, you can use another device that analyzes samples to identify the cause. So much for that silly "iDoctor" idea Apple failed to try at!
Someone 2y ago
> This would actually be a revolutionary idea. No, it wouldn’t be. The idea is at least over half a century old (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricorder) Executing upon that idea and actually building it would be revolutionary even if that meant building a single one at the cost of a trillion dollars. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can even put all the necessary sensors in a device that size, let alone power them there and turn their measurements into a diagnosis or, better, treatment plan. An iPhone cannot remotely reliably count how many steps I set in a day, heart rate measurement in an iWatch doesn’t work well during exercise, non-invasive blood glucose monitoring is a research project, etc. Because of that, I think that replacing primary care doctors by some magical device will mean heavily increasing the load on secondary care workers because the number of false positives would go up tremendously. Net effect would be higher healthcare costs.
- blindprogrammer 2y ago
  Let me clarify. The heavy lifting wouldn't be done by the iPhone itself, but by connected devices, similar to how you print a document using a Bluetooth printer connected to your iPhone. Imagine having all the necessary medical equipment at home, compatible with your iPhone. Instead of a doctor taking your temperature, weight, and asking general health questions, these devices would perform those tasks. Each device would analyze the data and send the results to your iPhone, just like a digital thermometer transmits data to a computer in a doctor's office. You might be thinking of the iPhone as a standalone doctor, but that's not the concept. Instead, the iDoctor app would delegate tasks to different devices, each acting like a mini-server. Similar to how Amazon Alexa works with smart light bulbs, these devices would connect to your iPhone's iDoctor app for diagnosis. The app could then analyze the data and suggest if a specialist visit is necessary, potentially saving you a trip to the doctor's office. In essence, the iDoctor app would leverage connected devices for diagnosis, with the iPhone acting as a central hub for data collection and analysis.
Spooky23 2y ago
I don’t think this type of idea will eliminate the need for primary care, but it will flag risks for people who don’t regularly go to the doctor for routine visits.

nullindividual 2y ago

> Imagine the iPhone becoming your primary doctor, eliminating the need for traditional visits. You seem to be under the misguided impression that the only purpose of visiting a doctor is for laboratory-based diagnostic tests. > If not, you can use another device that analyzes samples to identify the cause. So much for that silly "iDoctor" idea Apple failed to try at!

Someone 2y ago

> This would actually be a revolutionary idea. No, it wouldn’t be. The idea is at least over half a century old (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricorder) Executing upon that idea and actually building it would be revolutionary even if that meant building a single one at the cost of a trillion dollars. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can even put all the necessary sensors in a device that size, let alone power them there and turn their measurements into a diagnosis or, better, treatment plan. An iPhone cannot remotely reliably count how many steps I set in a day, heart rate measurement in an iWatch doesn’t work well during exercise, non-invasive blood glucose monitoring is a research project, etc. Because of that, I think that replacing primary care doctors by some magical device will mean heavily increasing the load on secondary care workers because the number of false positives would go up tremendously. Net effect would be higher healthcare costs.

blindprogrammer 2y ago
Let me clarify. The heavy lifting wouldn't be done by the iPhone itself, but by connected devices, similar to how you print a document using a Bluetooth printer connected to your iPhone. Imagine having all the necessary medical equipment at home, compatible with your iPhone. Instead of a doctor taking your temperature, weight, and asking general health questions, these devices would perform those tasks. Each device would analyze the data and send the results to your iPhone, just like a digital thermometer transmits data to a computer in a doctor's office. You might be thinking of the iPhone as a standalone doctor, but that's not the concept. Instead, the iDoctor app would delegate tasks to different devices, each acting like a mini-server. Similar to how Amazon Alexa works with smart light bulbs, these devices would connect to your iPhone's iDoctor app for diagnosis. The app could then analyze the data and suggest if a specialist visit is necessary, potentially saving you a trip to the doctor's office. In essence, the iDoctor app would leverage connected devices for diagnosis, with the iPhone acting as a central hub for data collection and analysis.

Spooky23 2y ago

I don’t think this type of idea will eliminate the need for primary care, but it will flag risks for people who don’t regularly go to the doctor for routine visits.