The Real Era of the Art of Medicine Begins with Artificial Intelligence.

Abstract

Physicians have been performing the art of medicine for hundreds of years, and since the ancient era, patients have turned to physicians for help, advice, and cures. When the fathers of medicine started writing down their experience, knowledge, and observations, treating medical conditions became a structured process, with textbooks and professors sharing their methods over generations. After evidence-based medicine was established as the new form of medical science, the art and science of medicine had to be connected. As a result, by the end of the 20th century, health care had become highly dependent on technology. From electronic medical records, telemedicine, three-dimensional printing, algorithms, and sensors, technology has started to influence medical decisions and the lives of patients. While digital health technologies might be considered a threat to the art of medicine, I argue that advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, will initiate the real era of the art of medicine. Through the use of reinforcement learning, artificial intelligence could become the stethoscope of the 21st century. If we embrace these tools, the real art of medicine will begin now with the era of artificial intelligence.