Nurses May Trump Doctors as the Future of Medicine

In the medical world, the arrival of new technologies has led to the development of life-saving procedures since the beginning of modern medicine. From the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming to the development of Theranos, a new way to test blood for a host of diseases in an effort to lower costs for patients, technology seems to be paving the way for advances in medicine.

However, after the Wall Street Journal's inaugural WSJD Live technology conference, Dennis K. Berman and several other attendees brought up an interesting possible future result thanks to new medical technology: “A world that venerates the nurse's credo more than the doctor's intellect.”

Dr. Desmond-Hellman, who took part in the conference, reiterated the point of how nurses take on the role of caring and empathy. They are the ones that, according to Dr. Desmond-Hellman, “ask[ing] the right questions, laying on hands, caring, understanding what’s going on in a way that Watson still can’t do”.

As monitoring and diagnostic tools that are to be used for medical ailments continue to become more sophisticated, then nurses may soon be the future of medicine.

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