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ΣΥΝΕΝΤΕΥΞΗ
in an attempt to keep surgical treatment, urological treatment, as short as possible, day care based, walk in, ambulatory etc. Which in 1999, believe it or not, in the national service in the UK, it was pioneering.
F.N.: We have read in your CV that you are skilled in Healthcare Information Technology (HIT). In what way has the Healthcare Information Technology contributed to the improvement of patient care? In your opinion what is the next step in the field of Healthcare Information Technology?
E.R.: Healthcare Information Technology has definitely been very positive. Patients are now more informed. A more informed patient is a happier patient and the doctor will have a more positive experience with the patient. The challenge is that we are, as I said before, in a “tsunami” of healthcare information and the question is if this information can be trusted, because misinformation is a big problem. The EAU Patient Office really strives to overcome this problem, with our Patient Information website. Patients want their healthcare information to be accurate, short,
to the point, telling them how their treatment will affect them and how they are going to live after that. That sums it up. That’s what the patients want. The days when the patients would just take the doctor’s advice are disappearing.. Now, they are going online to look things up. There are concerns about misinformation. Of course, there are trusted websites, but unfortunately there are misinformed websites as well. So, there needs to be some governance over this, where possible. In addition, there’s artificial intelligence (AI). I would hope that artificial intelligence would become a force for good. We are not there yet; it needs to be critically evaluated. Right now, in the UK, there is a conference about how safe is AI. We are seeing the big tech companies using AI in their searching design, so it is going to have an influence. We have to know if it is safe. Also, what makes AI, ChatGPT, more extraordinary is that it seems like it has “a personality”, it can be empathetic. That can be for the good and it can go a long way in helping the urologists refer the patients to reliable, trustworthy, comprehensive data. But is it safe? We are not there yet and I don’t know the answer. I hope it will be for the good!
F.N., T.S.: You recently visited Ioannina. Is there anything you like about Greece or the Greek people? Have you ever visited a Greek island?
E.R.: I visited Greece for the first time in 1984, when I had just finished medical school. I had the time of my life, in Crete and in Santorini. I love the country. Personalized medicine is a very topical term. Personalized medicine was developed by the ancient Greek philosophers. Hippocrates was the first. One of his quotes was “it is better to know the patient with the disease, than the disease that the patient has”. This is just genius and it came from Greece. I have very good Greek friends, in the EAU as well. You have a very distinguished history and culture and of course the weather. In Ireland right now, I am looking outside and there is a storm. I wish I could be on an island in Greece. Anytime I will have the excuse, I will come back! I have to also say, and I say that sincerely, that I was really impressed with your Association and it was a great pleasure to go to your conference. Your Patient Office with all these urologists under 40, was a great experience. It was an absolute pleasure. Again, thank you for your time here today.
Tεύχος 26 | Nοέμβριος - Δεκέμβριος 2023
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