Guest Column: Calling Doctor Avatar

By Jeff Nelson, BOLT Document Management

Do I think that information technology in medicine is a good thing? Hmmm – not always. In general I'm a big fan. In fact, a big part of my livelihood involves helping practices and clinics manage medical information like patient and billing records more efficiently. Any technology that improves diagnosis and treatment and can let doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals spend more time working with patients is a good thing. But when I see the industry harnessing technology designed to let practitioners spend less time interacting directly with their patients I draw the line. Let me explain.

While reading one of my technology magazines at work recently I stumbled upon an article about how organizations are "pushing customer engagement to new levels online". The article describes an example that is currently being studied by an integrated health system involving the use of on-line avatars. Avatars as they are being depicted in this case are computer generated cartoon style characters with lips that move to computer generated voice audio (some even have eyes that blink – fancy stuff, I know).