from Hacker News

Building a Physician Reference for 2023

by kmgrassi on 3/9/23, 6:00 PM with 1 comments

  • by oidar on 3/9/23, 6:16 PM

    > A better version of UpToDate would integrate answers from new studies and guidelines as soon as they were published.

    It should take a preponderance of evidence to update treatments. If a new study challenges current treatment protocols, it should be investigated - not added to the repertoire of treatments for physicians operating outside their specialty.

    > Most of the time, doctors are looking for specific answers, not full-length articles. A doctor who searches “amoxicillin dose for 6yo with otitis media” is not trying to read a 10-page article on ear infections—she’s looking for a one-line answer like “the recommended amoxicillin dose is 40-45 mg/kg every 12 hours.”

    Answers require nuance, and NLP/LLMs models aren't there yet. Physicians should read the whole article - not just look for a single answer - that's not good medicine. Also, there are apps that will spit out dosage for medications based on pt. characteristics / dx - that's not UpToDate's focus.

    > Improvement #3: Allow users to add their own references.

    Now this is a big one. Not just for clinic/hospital guidelines - but also insurance guidelines.

    Good luck with your new product.