Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Building trust through innovation: Technology and patient care in modern healthcare

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Building trust through innovation: Technology and patient care in modern healthcare · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with the
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  Becker's Healthcare Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning
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  in to this episode. An exciting topic today,
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  building trust through innovation, technology and patient care
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  in modern health care. And I'm very excited
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  to be joined by doctor Ryan Fulton. He's
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  the section chief at Carilion Children's General Pediatrics
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  and an assistant professor
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  both at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of
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  Medicine
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  and Edward Via College of Osteopathic
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  Medicine. Doctor Fulton, thanks so much for being
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  here today.
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  Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
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  Absolutely. Great to have you on. Well, for
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  us to get started, making sure our audience
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  knows who you are, Could you just give
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  us a a brief introduction to yourself and
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  your overview of your work and career in
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  health care?
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  Absolutely. Yeah. So
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  I started my career,
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  obviously, in med school at BCom,
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  in Blacksburg, Virginia
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  and ended up doing residency at, Carilion Clinic,
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  as well following that and then maintained,
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  my career through Carilion,
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  rising up to be section g for the
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  past, two years,
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  for outpatient,
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  pediatric medicine.
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  I've have a passion in both advocacy
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  and technology
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  and all kinds of things that are associated
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  with medicine, so it's a nice place to
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  be,
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  to really
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  hone my skills and develop the section in
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  a way that,
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  is most
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  advantageous to our patients,
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  as well as benefiting our physicians
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  as we move forward with,
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  the new technology and things that we've encountered
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  along the way.
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  And I love that you're an educator as
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  well.
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  That's that's that is fantastic.
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  And I again, you have so much clinical
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  experience
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  over a decade.
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  When we talk about technology
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  specifically,
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  it's evolved significantly. It continues to evolve. I
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  feel like every month there's something new that
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  we need to talk about.
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  What do you see as the major benefits
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  and challenges
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  of integrating new technologies
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  into medical practice today?
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  I think the biggest benefit is improving patient
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  care.
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  That's that's the goal of improving technology. Right?
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  So I I remember being the first to
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  use the digital stethoscope in my practice. I
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  remember
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  being, on the research team looking at putting
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  these devices
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  in Far Southwest Virginia
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  to allow us to do a full exam
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  remotely,
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  and allowing us, especially during COVID, to implement
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  those strategies
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  to improve patient care, not only for those
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  that can't get in, but for those that
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  don't have access at all. You know, many
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  of our states are
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  are very large much larger than Virginia. If
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  you think about places like Texas or California,
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  there are regions that don't have access to
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  health care at all. So that's the direction
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  that, you know, I really wanted to see
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  most benefit from the technologies that we have.
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  We off also have better diagnostics,
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  enhanced communication within health care teams,
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  and more personalized care,
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  that we're seeing. The movement of concierge medicine
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  and things like that would never happen without
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  improvement in technology.
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  Yeah. Absolutely. And you mentioned some of the,
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  advancements that you've sort of personally witnessed in
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  your own career, and this is this is
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  something that I was really interested in.
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  For you personally, what's the one technological
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  advancement that has really impacted your career the
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  most and your daily work when you think
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  back through this evolution?
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  I mean, I think that everyone's answer would
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  be the electronic medical record.
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  It's the most impactful and most all encompassing.
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  You know, when you think about,
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  the development of anything, whether it be the
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  machines that help us do remote
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  medicine
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  or whether it be,
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  you know, utilizing
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  AI and health care, Epic, You know, the
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  the Epic is what we use for EMR,
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  but any electronic medical record is the backbone
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  of how that technology
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  is put from our hands into the patient
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  hands, and that has really, really impacted health
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  care.
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  There are pros and cons to it, obviously,
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  but that is that's has had the biggest
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  impact overall.
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  Now with these advancements, there's a lot of
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  happening. A lot of folks touch these technologies
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  that that have certainly been in this space
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  for a while, and and AI has really
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  impacted
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  health care as well. And there there's a
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  survey from last year from 2024 that identified
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  that nurses still have a have significant doubts
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  over using AI driven technology,
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  specifically in regards to accuracy and cybersecurity.
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  How can leaders foster more trust, and and
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  where do you see AI making the biggest
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  difference for clinicians and patient care?
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  Yeah. I think I think any anyone any
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  advancement in technology or science
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  has its reservations and trust.
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  And this comes from even when we talk
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  about early inter early adoption of electronic
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  medical record.
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  And,
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  really, what it comes down to is that
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  the direction that we're moving in health care,
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  whether it be for AI or any other
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  technology,
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  is is the direction that we will be
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  going. So
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  I I always like to say that,
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  when when, ChattiBT and all the new age,
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  artificial intelligence started to come out,
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  they were worried about AI taking jobs.
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  And, one of my favorite quotes, and I
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  forget who said it, but it was that,
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  AI is not gonna take your job. Someone
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  who knows how to utilize AI is going
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  to take your job. And so,
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  it's kind of get on the train or
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  not leave the station sort of thing. So
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  how do we affect how do we affect
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  that?
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  It's really talking about it in less of
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  a scary way. As with anything, when you
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  adopt something new,
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  there are gonna be growing pains.
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  And so trying to discuss those growing pains
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  in a in a way that doesn't seem
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  like you're
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  preventing
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  information from being shared,
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  in a very transparent way,
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  will help,
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  both patients and nurses and and everyone that
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  is involved really get on board with things.
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  Yeah. And and you talked about the patient
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  piece as being
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  very important in in this space as well.
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  And, again, you have extensive experience specifically in
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  the pediatric space. When you work with younger
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  patients and their families, how have you seen
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  technology
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  change the doctor patient relationship there over the
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  years, and and what's important for health care
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  organizations to keep in mind?
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  The wonderful thing about
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  working with kids is that kids have almost
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  no biases.
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  Mhmm. And so
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  when they engage with new technology, it's more
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  of a curiosity
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  thing
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  rather than a fear thing.
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  So when I talk you know, when we
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  utilize,
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  DAX Copilot in in,
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  our work in the in the office, we
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  were initially, like, worried that there's gonna be
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  people that deny access because of the fear
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  of artificial intelligence.
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  And what what I have have been doing
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  is introducing it, explaining it, you know, asking
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  permission, but also kind of telling the telling
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  the patients that I have this little man
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  in my in my phone that's gonna help
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  me write my notes so I can sit
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  and play with them
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  and draw
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  and do trucks and cars and talk to
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  mom and dad instead of sitting on my
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  computer.
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  So I used to sit on my computer
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  ten, fifteen feet away from my patient until
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  the physical exam. Now I get to be
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  right up with my patient,
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  hanging out with my patient, building that patient,
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  doctor relationship
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  rather than being divided by a screen.
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  So technology, in this case, is really enabling
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  that that patient that relationship
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  and being able to focus more on the
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  relationship. Is that right? Absolutely. And I tell
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  patients all the time, you know, even with
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  older kids, I'm like, I would, you know,
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  I'd like your permission to utilize this technology
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  so I don't have to stare at a
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  screen, and I can look at you and
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  talk to you. And that immediately I've not
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  not had anyone say no, though, as far
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  as giving their consent because,
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  one, they trust me,
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  and they trust the process. And and
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  and really establishing that relationship
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  is so much of what people are looking
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  for in health care. And if we look
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  even more than that, if we look at
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  a global perspective
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  of
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  how do we change people's, you know, overall
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  trust of the medical community, how do we
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  change,
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  their interaction with the medical community, it's about
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  building that relationship.
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  Yeah. And with that, again, comes then trust
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  in the technology that's being used to be
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  able to advance patient care, which is was
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  the key it was the key here, really.
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  Looking looking ahead, obviously, 2025, but beyond that
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  too,
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  what do you think are some of the
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  aspects or the technologies that you think will
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  redefine family medicine,
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  and what advice do you have for other
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  providers who are looking to say, okay. We
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  want more technology. We want to implement more
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  AI and really leverage these new
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  tools. So I think as far as the
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  impact,
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  for health care as a whole,
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  you know, the possibilities are endless. My my
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  suspicion
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  is that, eventually, you will walk into a
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  clinic,
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  and you will be able to
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  be recorded. Obviously, you would have to have
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  your permission, but the the protected,
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  information
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  would get would check you in, get all
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  your information. They would take your history. And
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  while there's concerns about, you know, AI taking
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  over the diagnostic steps,
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  again, it's about the relationship.
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  So you want one person wants to talk
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  to another person. And so if you are
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  able to gather that information in an expeditious
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  way and then come in and have a
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  conversation
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  and talk with that patient meaningfully face to
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  face,
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  you're saving a lot of time that on
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  the back end is what is causing burnout
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  in physicians.
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  So the logistics of,
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  writing the note, of making the order, of
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  dealing with the health insurance. All of those
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  logistics is where AI needs to focus
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  as we move into the future because the
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  relationship,
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  person to person, is what we have.
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  But the burnout rate for physicians is why
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  we would is gonna be taken hopefully taken
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  care of by
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  AI.
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  And then in terms of the the provider
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  perspective too, as you've mentioned,
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  it's that trust, right, that's really important in
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  the technology, being able to have conversations with
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  everybody to say, okay. Hey. This is what
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  what the tools do. Here's how it can
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  help you. Are these conversations crucial for leaders
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  to have to be able to say, okay.
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  Here's how we're going to move this forward?
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  Absolutely.
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  I think that from the technology company
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  side of things or corporation,
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  there needs to be a significant focus on
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  how to keep patient information protected,
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  how to keep
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  the artificial intelligence
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  on track, which means that we're gonna have
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  lots of software updates. We're gonna have lots
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  of changes and and adaptations.
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  But a %, you have to explain to
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  the patient and their parent what this means,
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  you know, how the encryption works, why the
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  why I feel safe with this data,
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  or at least have it in your back
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  pocket if there's lots of concerns from the
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  parent.
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  Right. Absolutely. And that's why partnership is so
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  important with with these companies being able with
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  the vendors being able to do that, building
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  a good partnership as well.
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  Doctor Fulton, thank you so much for taking
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  the time. I feel like we could, keep
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  going on here with all of the great
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  things that are happening in this space.
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  Oh, yes. Absolutely. There's all always a change.
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  Every every new day has a new thing
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  to look into.
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  Absolutely. Thank you, doctor Fulton, for taking the
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  time, and we also want to thank our
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  podcast sponsor, Microsoft.
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  You can tune in to more podcasts from
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  Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at
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  beckershospitalreview.com.