Stethoscope is out. Stethophone is in. But MDs want to be the guardians of procedures.

MT @GlobeGideon: #Stethoscope around since 1816. "This thing is dead" says @EricTopol. 2 med schools replaced with #Stethophone. #ahcjdata
— Shuka Kalantari (@skalantari) October 4, 2013

The stethophone is being used in Brazil, in China and India, but not in Europe or in the US, where doctors want to be the guardians of procedures. Symbol of that: lab coat and stethoscope... And as a result: a health care system that is in a crisis: absurdly expensive and underperforming.

"Topol is also a big believer in the power of genetic sequencing. If people find out what’s in their DNA, he said, they can work to prevent future illness – someone with a predisposition toward melanoma can stay out of the sun, for example. But Topol may be in a small minority. According to the American Medical Association, he said, '95 percent of doctors don’t feel comfortable with genomic data.'"

This video shows why the US health care system is in a crisis: spending billion dollars on the 125 million ultrasound procedures that are performed in the US each year is just an example. Patients could use this device -- the stethophone -- instead, to perform their own echocardiogram and ultrasound. This would save  the healthcare system a hundred billion dollars... Now this stethophone is being used in Brazil, in China and India, where it's something big, but not in Europe or in the US, where doctors want to be the guardians of procedures, and hence ignore it. Symbol of that: lab coat and stethoscope... I bet you have not even heard of that stethophone in the first place, right?

==> Watch video here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2013/10/giving-the-stethoscope-a-makeover/280291/#comments

#CDoM #MedX #healthcare spending 100 billion $ on the 125 million ultrasound procedures that are performed in the US each year #Stethophone!
— CATHERINE COSTE (@cathcoste) October 5, 2013