Datamonitor believes software to aid the diagnosis and treatment of patients, are set to fundamentally change the way medicine is practiced.
The report, "Clinical Decision Support in Healthcare: One Step Closer to the Omniscient Clinician", expects clinical intelligence solutions to be the next major trend in support tools, followed by patient-centric diagnostics. However, the report points out that medical culture will be the major obstacle to overcome the provisioning of consumer self-service.
New Zealand Health Ministry chief clinical adviser Sandy Dawson says converting clinical expertise into a form that can be reliably dispensed through software is a "mammoth task" that will require a progressive effort over the next 20 years, like a Wiki.
Datamonitor says the culture of the medical profession is the biggest obstacle to uptake of the technology.
"The idea that a computer could be more accurate than a physician is difficult for providers to accept, despite numerous studies which have shown that algorithms and computers do outperform most doctors on some tasks."
Christine Chang, a healthcare analyst who helped produce the report, says:
"Critics of clinical decision support maintain a computer cannot understand the nuances of medicine even when the technologies have been shown to improve efficiencies and outcomes. While a fundamental shift in culture is not impossible, it will take time as well as an increase in provider education and pressure from patients, payers and 'C-level' hospital executives."
Datamonitor says healthcare providers themselves are not easily able to tell if they are treating patients effectively.
"The minority, if any, are able to measure the mid-to- long-term outcomes of the patients they treat, the number of incorrect diagnoses or what procedures are most cost- effective."
