the arts and health

2011-03-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Current medical record software is really quite horrible to use as a human. Another physician compared it well to the model T, which functional, lacked the comforts of current vehicles. Data entry should use more than just fingers, voice and free gesture should be optional elements. designing a system for physicians and health care staff is unique in that this group of users has a long history of memorizing lists of information. this could be used to design a flow through a physical topography, or tree diagram where nodes or branching points are memorized freeing the physician to move away from the screen and still enter data.
flexible sensors on the back of fingers could allow quick access to arrays of four data points.

Electronic medical records

2011-03-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

What i envision is a state coordinated record that has many layers of access. As a patient i can fill my personal spaces, selecting images, describing my personality, documenting my relationships, cataloging my interests, and chronicling life events. As a physician i can enter physiologic, biochemical, and genetic data, describe health events, prescribe medication, and chronicle treatments. The state can enter educational, and legal data and events. A relationship with this database would begin in elementary school, and follow through the individuals life.
Fundamental to any electronic record is the ability to abstract it's data to find patterns. The patterns should help guide society toward increasing the overall health of it's citizens. It goes without saying that this database would be abused by certain individuals; this is inherent in human culture.

unifying reality

2009-10-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

in physics there has been great human effort put into the search for the unifying theory of physical reality. i, and a great number of others have been looking for a similar unifying view of humanity. is it attainable? can human behaviour be reduced to a meaningful statement.

but say i had accomplished a feat, what next. what is the ultimate goal of searching through our experiences and the catalogs of others aware minds. clearly it is the process of discovery itself that is beautiful, the engagement with reality, the savouring of phenomena, so full.

but say i, you, of they had finished with the unification process. most likely there would be a rush of excitement, and then the urge to communicate the finding to others. would it be to let other sentient creatures know that it had been accomplished? that it was now available for their use? then what? would that ever be enough, would all others stop their searches and happily use this new finding, it seems unlikely.

there would be endless discussion on the merits of such a device. in the closed parts of our personal being not much would changed.

does this mean that spreading the good news of God is a waste of energy? at times it probably is. under the wrong motives it has clearly done damage over the centuries.

is love the final goal for a human; a reciprocating love. is making love with your wife, and engaging with her on as many levels of your self as possible, the highest state of being. i believe it is.

the magic art of numbers

2009-09-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

i love science, i love quantitive view of reality, i love being a physician; but there is a great disconnect between science and healing. this is nothing new. but as i continue to practice and am faced with patient after patient it's difficult to reconcile my scientific conscience with my practice patterns.

there are countless studies of varying quality on numberous subjects, but the patient in front of me is unique. i have to offer advice to this person, who for the most part, will follow it. but how do i know that this drug, or this data range are meaningful, and healthy for this patient. in the short run there is less confusion, physiology adjusts with the medications most often. but in the long run who really knows, i don't. there is no way to find the probability that this person in front of me fits into a given study. i can guesstimate a probability, but, BUT it's just a hunch, educated true, but a guess. or is it a hypothesis, is this my own, our own science experiment, on you the patient, where we allow greater latitude where the probability of seriously negative outcome is lower. i guess it is.

i wonder if the clinics that have the highest probability of following evidence based medicine have the longest patient retention, or if they are university, or residency based centers with high turnover. i wonder if being able to adhere to guidelines makes you feel more comfortable, it does me.

the doctor patient relationship can't have changed much over the centuries in-spite of our current technology. being with this other person, with certain expectations, and assigned roles in place. how did we prognosticate on the seemingly healthy person in days gone by, or did we. not much has changed with regards to indulgences of the flesh; too much and we increase the probability of negative health consequences.

graphic artists, guilt and redemption

2008-05-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

food should not be messed up any more than it is. we've gone far enough. going to the supermarket and looking at boxes is not food shopping. what is it? we still can buy meat and produce in the nude, and please God this is what we will buy. but for the millions who wander through the center isles they are exposed to full color glossy adds. images of what might be, designed and evolved by humans to sway other humans to buy their box rather than their neighbors. who's to blame? the graphic artist is guilty of this sin, can we blame the ceo who hires and pays them? so should we remove all the color and pomp from our shopping experience? i'm not sure, but maybe we could use it in a better way, to attract people to healthier choices.
of course there are some great graphic artist who must be doing this, we need to encourage them in any way possible. at least now we can see the content of these boxes, it should be all we see. if we need a box the vast majority of the surface should be the content, larger font, more detail (weights, genetic strains, origins of synthetics). we fill our bodies with this stuff. our children are being built from these images. and look at us, we are killing ourselves slowly and painfully, for another beautiful box.
how will the many graphic artist feel as they lay dying, or standing next to their family and friends as they pass away from the complications of diabetes or regenerative diseases; complications like strokes and system failure. there will only be the shiny adds on the ubiquitous televisions, of happy healthy families salivating over more cans and boxes of stuff. graphic artists need to put their mice down, and think about what they have done, what they are doing, and what they will do. please God we can begin to stop.