This year, Clínica La Pequena Familia addressed two important aspects of medical practice in its clinical sessions: the most human part of the relationship between doctor and patient, emotional intelligence, and, on the other hand, the importance and progress of artificial intelligence in the same field. .
Today, Doctor’s Day, this date reminds us of the entire path of doctors who, from the moment they choose their career, must take responsibility for their practice and their contribution to the health of society.
On the other hand, apart from the fact that new technologies such as artificial intelligence can advance the development of science in favor of health, nothing beats a doctor who has chosen the noble mission of caring for lives.
In this regard, Democracia consulted Dr. Norberto Petraglia, Medical Director of Clínica La Pequena Familia, a leading health treatment institution in the region.
It should be noted that Clínica La Pequena Familia will celebrate 30 years of operation on August 5, 2024. It has been 30 years since its opening, and we always try to provide the best possible medicine so that people throughout the region can find solutions to their medical problems. Problems,” he said.
“Gradually, the clinic has become a regional reference center where people who previously went to Buenos Aires or Rosario try to find a solution to their medical problems here,” Dr. Petraglia continued.
In the development of the professional career of doctors, the residency department is one of the important departments, where they devote themselves to medical practice in direct patient care. The Little Family has been in residence since 2004, and currently has postgraduate training schemes in eight specialties.
He pointed out, “We started with a medical clinic and then added general surgery, intensive care, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, post-primary neonatal, urology, and cardiology.”
Development
In recent decades, the role of the doctor in society has changed, which in the twentieth century was that of the traditional family doctor and today his activity is focused on the doctor’s office, both private and in health care centers, with possibilities of use. Technological means of describing, providing consultations, etc.
In this regard, Dr. Petraglia mentioned the experience he had in his family. “My father was a doctor in Junin for 50 years, and in addition to consultations, calls home were very common: the doctor would go to see the patient at home. There was no emergency system, and sometimes, when there was an emergency at night, the doctor would go to Home to see if he could solve the problem. He was the family doctor. In those times, medicine was less complicated and more personal.
The interviewee continued: “Later, with medical progress, medical technology changed, and even more so with the spread of specialties and subspecialties. For example, in traumatology there is no general trauma doctor: there is a doctor dedicated to the hip, another to the knee, upper extremity, shoulder, and so on. This has greatly improved the results. The same thing happens in surgery and other specialties.”
Regarding other tools that a doctor uses to make a diagnosis, such as clinical analysis, images, etc., Dr. Petraglia also highlighted the progress in new technologies and procedures, which may have started with simple X-rays and then developed into great strides towards computerized ultrasound, MRI, and imaging. Cross-sectional and many other studies.
He pointed out, “Despite the development of specialties, patients rely a lot on the opinion of the doctor who has been their primary family physician for many years, confident that the medication prescribed to him was beneficial for them.”
Emotional intelligence – artificial intelligence
Medicine has advanced at the pace of technology in recent years, and we have reached current times where we are already thinking about the contribution that artificial intelligence can make to this science.
At this point, Dr. Petraglia highlighted that the Little Family, for 26 years, has been holding multidisciplinary medical conferences every two years, such as the one held in 2023.
“At this year’s event, specifically, the inaugural conference was delivered by the Head of the Department of Medical Informatics at the Italian Hospital in Buenos Aires, Dr. Daniel Luna. He spoke specifically about the importance of artificial intelligence and its progress in medical practice. After that the plenary session for all doctors was held by Dr. Lucio Criado, a specialist in the medical clinic. There he spoke about “The Art of Medical Care: The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Medicine.” The doctor influences things that technology will never be able to do, such as containing, accompanying and persuading the patient; the director of La Pequeno Familia explained: “In short, being the person whom the patient trusts.”
Indeed, Dr. Criado, an internal medicine specialist and former president of the SAM Society, explained the importance of empathy among health professionals when dealing with patients.
“That day, both sides of the coin became apparent: emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence are two ways of seeing medicine. On the one hand, the most humane part that medicine still has, and on the other hand, technology.
Optimistic outlook
On Doctor’s Day, after sending a special greeting to all his colleagues in Junin and the region, Dr. Norberto Petraglia said: “We are going through unpleasant times, because we are not oblivious to all the economic difficulties that the country is experiencing. The medical profession may be one of the adaptive variables in these complex times we are experiencing.
“However, we have to be optimistic. The country will improve and so will medicine. We feel proud that Junin is, in general, a medical reference for the entire region.”
