Before my own post, I’d like you to know that I commented on these two blog posts:
DIGI SOCIETY – Hanna’s blog (savonia.fi)
DIGI SOCIETY – Digitalised working environment for N.B. (savonia.fi)
I work as a radiographer in radiology department. I graduated in 2017 and have been working ever since in central hospital. Digitalization has been a big part of my work as long as I have been in the working field. I haven’t experienced a paper era in radiology, when x-rays were developed in darkrooms so for me digital way has always been the only way. Sure, the digitalization has improved over the years and for example papery patient files have left out. I have also experienced the change in disc imaging to direct digital x-ray. That was big step in radiography because it made our work faster and easier.
In radiology digitalization play a big role starting in patient information systems and all imaging devices. Systems co-operate with each other, sometimes fluently and sometimes not so fluently. The risk of spelling wrong patient data is smaller in this way but surely needs a check from human. Images and scans use straight digital systems to form and further processing happens in computer as well as sending.
In the future I think that radiology is the big beneficiary in digital area. Developing AI technologies radiology can exploit them in image forming and quality, image interpretation and radiation protection for example. AI algorithms can analyze medical images with high precision, often detecting abnormalities that might be missed by the human eye. In quality assurance AI can assist in maintaining consistent image quality by providing feedback on imaging techniques and suggesting adjustments. Risks that come in my mind are ethical; who takes a responsibility on machine made conclusions and what if they are wrong? I also wonder how expensive AI system is to weld part of existing systems and if that’s even possible. If you think, the healthcare personnel are in the middle of change and they need to be ready and motivated to work this through.
GDPR was unknown concept to me before these studies. It surely got better known in the spring when we had the course about information security and data protection. It made me think about my own behavior in open digital society. I have become more aware about the risks that comes by sharing personal information in the web. My priority was checking all my passwords because they weren’t actually that safe… I understand that the permission requests that sites ask almost every time can be annoying, but I encourage everyone to think about how much they want to give their personal information when they can’t be absolutely sure how the information is being used and how gets the access to it. In working life, I think the GDPR gives right tools to safer working habits and comes naturally especially in health care where we use sensitive patient information.
I asked AI “What does a radiographer do?” and the answer was quite good. It divided our working areas and had good vision about what we actually do. Another question that I asked was “How do you see the future of the AI in the radiology?” Answer to that was similar that my own thoughts that I wrote above. AI says it itself that even though there are almost limitless possibilities there are also risks that needs to be considered. AI can be very good assistance in world of radiology, but we can’t rely it blindly.
I have studied digitalization in social and health care almost a year now. I have learned much about different concepts, some which I haven’t even heard of before. AI is the biggest new thing for me and I have learned to use it as a part of my studies. I have noticed that it need extra attention so it doesn’t become too much used and my sources become in the first instance somewhere else. I think AI is very good “checking point” where I can check for example my language and writing. If I review this course I have learned much by far. I have never created a blog before and now I have. I was a bit terrified of writing in English because I feel that it isn’t my strength. How ever I noticed that if I just start it comes out quite smoothly, sure it’s up to reader if they feel the same. I have used AI in this task a little, mostly asking some translations and vocabulary.
These are my thoughts about the subject. What do you think? Leave a comment!