The executives from Berne Pharmaceutical all watched a video shown on their screens by their lead researcher, Professor Yuan Yu.
"So is there a good reason why you're showing us this on Spring Festival vacation?" asked one of the executives, Xia Lihou, as he sat in his luxury apartment and spoke into his phone. It was a good excuse to avoid talking to his wife, but he didn't understand the purpose of the urgent meeting.
"I was able to secure this video from a friend of mine at Magic City University Hospital," explained Professor Yuan Yu. "What I am showing you will soon be the talk of the medical world once Spring Festival is over with. You may not be aware, but surgeons require imaging to be able to locate the blockage. However, the surgeon in the video was able to locate the exact location of the blockage simply by feeling the pulse."
"Pulse reading?" one of the executives chuckled. "Is he a TCM doctor?"
"This isn't important, but during the short amount of time he was at the hospital, he was able to pinpoint a lot of complications in patients. The hospital was able to verify the locations after performing the angiogram on the patients."
"So he's better than an x-ray machine, but what does that have to do with us?"
Professor Yuan Yu breathed in and out slowly. He hated dealing with non-medical personnel. They were technically his bosses, but they only knew the financial portion of the pharmaceutical business. "This skill cannot be replicated by another person, but it can be replicated by machines."
Professor Yuan Yu's remark woke up a lot of executives.
****
After Spring Festival break, Li Yun attended the first day of the New Medical Technology Symposium. He met up with An Luchang and they waited for Chief Zhang to show them around. Unfortunately, Chief Zhang was caught up by some of the doctors who recognized him.
Li Yun and An Luchang took the initiative to tour the first few stalls near the lobby without their chief. The purpose of most symposiums was to make connections. Although An Luchang wasn't well versed in small talk, when needed, he could carry on conversations. He asked each representative detailed questions about their products and most representatives were more than happy to explain.
The Symposium was a place for companies to present new technologies and make pitches to entice new investors. Doctors were the first people they had to convince.
"Our company provides some of the best laparoscopes in the industry," the sales rep said. "The design is ergonomically detailed to allow comfort and maneuverability."
"Now I can see why you asked me about the cardiovascular system," An Luchang ignored the rep and spoke to Li Yun instead. "Can you really see it? The cardiovascular system in your mind?"
"That's about it, pretty awesome skill isn't it?" asked Li Yun.
"Can you really do that just by understanding the pulses?" An Luchang was still a bit skeptical.
"Just think about it. Blood follows the complex rules of fluid dynamics and is also constantly changing according to the environment and emotions. Early doctors have recognized the effects of the environment, and divided them into four types of pulses: wiry, flooding, floating, and stony, each corresponding with the seasons. Changes to the pulses could be fast, slow, slippery, wiry, big, small, rising, or sinking. Just think of the patterns as biological wave functions."
"If you equate it to mathematical waves, it somehow makes more sense than slippery and wiry."
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"What's wrong with wiry? It's a good way to explain things, especially 2000 years ago when no one knew about wave function or fluid mechanics. Wiry explains the pulse from when the temperature changed from cool to warm. It is the type of pulse commonly felt during the spring, it is the tense pulling by the blood to draw in heat. If the wiry pulse feels slower or faster, it is an indication of an illness. If the wiry pulse is felt during the heat of the summer, it is another indication of an illness. It's simple…"
"Ah, maybe I should talk to some of those TCM professors about pulse," a voice chimed in from behind them.
"Chief Zhang!" Li Yun and An Luchang greeted the Chief.
"No need to be polite," Chief Zhang responded, waving off formality. "I think I can speak for everyone when they say that your surgery was an eye opener. It's a shame that this type of skill can't be taught."
Li Yun nodded.
With Chief Zhang joining them, he guided them around the exhibit floor. As they walked through the different booths, they tested out new technology being released or proposed. Some booths were requesting investors to fund their projects.
"Although it may be exciting, there are also a lot of concerns with new technology, like doctors and surgeons losing certain abilities," Chief Zhang commented as they walked through the exhibit floor. "Like palpation. If you talk to the old timers, they can tell you how they are able to sense an oncoming heart attack simply by listening to the heart. However, imagine a robot that can read ECG and give accurate information and diagnosis. Doctors would simply become technicians to maintain the robots."
Pulse palpation was an antiqued technique and symbolic of TCM. Likewise, the stethoscope was also heading in the same direction for western medicine. Every medical student learned how to detect abnormally in the heart and lungs through the stethoscopes but as technology improves, the stethoscope was becoming a symbolic tool for doctors rather than a practical tool. ECG and ultrasound were much more accurate and thorough.
"That's only true if the data inputted into the robot is accurate," Li Yun stated. He believed it would be a while before doctors became obsolete.
Chief Zhang nodded. "Many hospitals have been sending data to companies to pool together enough data to begin the process. However, the data is inconsistent. There are too many different illnesses and complications in the human body for them to create an all encompassing diagnosis robot. For now, the best they can do is a targeted diagnostic. However, in the future? Who knows?"
Automation may be slow in the medical field, but it had already replaced many existing jobs in other fields.
"Is there also a concern with robots replacing surgeons?" asked An Luchang.
"A bit, but not anytime soon. When laparoscopes were first introduced, a lot of surgeons were against it. Twenty years into the future, some of their concerns are warranted, like the inability of some surgeons to perform open surgeries. However, complications are reduced and patients' health are improving. With robotics, there will be even less opportunity for open surgery."
Less opportunity meant less chances for new residents to gain experience. Li Yun was lucky to have Zuowang to experience open surgery, but for many residents, they did not have the same opportunity.
"It might be better to reserve open surgery to a select few specialist field like hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery, organ transplant, and emergency medicine," An Luchang suggested. "This will allow more surgical residents who regularly need to use open surgery to be efficient at it, and for residents who don't, to focus on improving their laparoscopic and robotic skills."
"That's why I like you younger generations. You're not afraid of new technologies, but embrace them as a way of life," Chief Zhang suddenly shook his head and hand. "Blah, enough about this topic. The reason I am here is to make a purchase deal for the Emergency Department. Originally I was only planning to take you two around to make connections. However, it seems like Dr. Li have already made quite a connection."
"Just a few so far," Li Yun had received some offers from different hospitals and pharmaceutical companies in the area.
"Who gave you the best offer?"
"Probably Berne for two million yuan a year."
Chief Zhang snorted. "They are probably taking advantage of you for being a first year resident. If you are able to assist them with inputting data for a diagnostic robot, they should be paying you two million in USD."
Even if they did offer him that much, Li Yun would likely turn it down. Although he could use classical pulse analysis to provide data, he couldn't imagine how time consuming it would be to create such a system. If he joined the research team, the technology might speed up a bit, but even without him, a diagnostic robot would become a reality someday. At Imperial City University, they had created a little doctor robot that had passed the Chinese medical licensing exam and was rumored to be put on the market the following year. The reaction had been mixed.
Maybe it was better to delay the process and to give people the time to adjust. Progress was not always welcomed when it came by too quickly.