I’ve been working as an ophthalmologist for 30 years and the profession is unrecognizable today from what it was in the late 1980s.
And this stands to reason – what would the people then think of cell phones, Facebook, Uber, email and the internet??
There were no websites.
If you wanted to take a picture, you had to use a camera. If you wanted to watch a TV show, you had to do it on your television.
So much technological change to our lives and for the betterment of both doctors and patients, it’s penetrated the medical profession.
We have tools and instruments that are so much more sophisticated than what we used back then. Now comes news that an engineer is developing a retina scanner that will diagnose eye diseases before any vision loss occurs.
At the end of the day, we can never lose sight that there has to be a skilled practitioner using that piece of technology. It can never replace a doctor, just assist him or her as they go about their business as a professional.
Similarly, it’s incumbent upon every doctor to make sure they are up to date with the latest medical developments, tools and procedures. There can never be a point where we can stay we know it all and stop learning. We always have to be striving to improve so our patients can receive the best possible ophthalmological care and treatment.
