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March 5, 1999
"Good morning," says the computer to the psychiatrist as she turns it on in her office. "I have identified seven new articles and/or case reports in the online literature since yesterday that pertain to psychiatric disorders, treatments, or medications with which you are currently working. Would you like to see a list, have me read them to you, or shall I just print them all out for reading later?
"You also have 10 new messages in the e-mail psychiatry discussion groups you are participating in. Once again, would you like to see a list, have me read them to you, or shall I just print them out for reading later?"
With the new millennium now being little more than a turn around the corner, psychiatrists cannot help but wonder what the practice of psychiatry will be like in the future. Will the scenario described above represent the way psychiatrists get timely information? Will patients be able to undergo brain imaging on a miniature machine in psychiatrists' waiting rooms? Will use of virtual reality technology be commonplace? Will machines make preliminary diagnoses of patients through measurement of their neurochemistry?
It's anybody's and everybody's guess, but your guess is wanted in particular.
This year's annual meeting will include a special exhibit in the APA Resource Center called the "Office of the Future." The centerpiece of the exhibit will be a bank of computers in which meeting goers can enter their thoughts about the psychiatry of tomorrow, whether in the area of clinical practice, research, education, health care delivery, or administration. Meeting goers will also be interviewed on videotape. The results of these exercises will be used to develop a more elaborate exhibit-perhaps one showing a prototype of tomorrow's psychiatric office-for APA's annual meeting in the year 2000.
The plans for this year's exhibit are still being developed, according to Ronnie S. Stangler, M.D., chair of APA's Subcommittee on Office of the Future and a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications for the Annual Meeting. The exhibit is supported by a grant from Merck & Co. Inc.
"We hope to inspire our members' participation and enthusiasm for this special exhibit," said Stangler. "We want to challenge them, both creatively and intellectually, to take a leap into the future. And whatever else we do, we want to ensure that the 'Office of the Future' protects and preserves the best of the past."
Visions of the future, however, don't have to be all rosy or office oriented. Steven Hyler, M.D., also a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications for the Annual Meeting, shared his concept: "First the good news: Patients will be able to choose to purchase health care packages via the Internet. They will go to HealthCareInsurance.com, view the plans, and configure the options to their liking. They will pay for the insurance electronically by having the cost deducted from their electronic paychecks.
"Now the bad news: The insurance companies, seeking to obtain health care at the lowest possible cost for the patients who have chosen their plan, will then put up the cost of caring for the patient (or their particular medical problem) to bid at auction, just like at The idea for the "Office of the Future" exhibit originated with APA President Rodrigo Muņoz, M.D., and was passed on to APA's Committee on Telemedicine and Committee on Information Systems. The Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications for the Annual Meeting took over planning for the exhibit after the committee was created recently. The committee is chaired by Area 2 Trustee Herbert Peyser, M.D. Other committee members are, in addition to Stangler and Hyler, Norm Alessi, M.D., Thomas Kramer, M.D., Ellen Rothchild, M.D., and Bertram Warren, M.D. Pedro Ruiz, M.D., is chair of APA's Scientific Program Committee.
Stangler welcomes members' ideas concerning the "Office of the Future" exhibit. She can be contacted at stangler@u.washington.edu.