2009-The Physician of the Future English and Catalan

1. W HAT KIND OF PHYSICIAN DO WE HAVE ? 33 1.3. Technology-Based Medicine Technological development in recent decades has created new scenarios for the medical profession and shown that in the near future not only will new diagnostic and therapeutic tools be available, but also new ways to relate doctors and patients. $e innovative nature of technological change generates technological fascination (Bernal & Peiró) and physicians ought to remain alert to technologically generated mirages and remember that technology is always a means to an end. $e doctor-patient relationship has changed considerably in light of patients’ increasing access to information provided by easy communication channels. For physicians too, information and communication technologies have a'orded huge advantages, such as new imaging technology. In the near future, subcutaneous implantation of chips with personal health records, or devices to monitor and transmit vital parameters could become a feasible routine. $e emergence of new sciences like “bioinformatics” or “genomics” and so- called “Predictive Medicine”, will enable identi"cation of people predisposed to developing certain diseases. Advances anticipated in surgery will be no less fascinating. Robots performing high precision interventions or the possibility that “nanotechnology” will develop “nano-devices” capable of locating target cells to introduce genes or drugs within them. As many diseases originate in brain disorders, increased knowledge of how the brain works is and will be of great bene"t to health. Principal progress in neurosciences bene"ts from technology from other disciplines (NMR, PET, magnetoencefalography, transcraneal magnetic cerebral stimulation) and allows earlier and more precise diagnosis. Advances in decoding human genomes or the use of transgenic animals for research, as well as an increased capacity to store and handle huge