IBM Takes Watson to the Hospital

December 11, 2012

The Inquirer recently reported on Watson’s new job in medicine in the article, “IBM Puts Watson to Work Training Doctors.”

According to the article, IBM has signed a deal with a US hospital to allow its super computer, Watson, to train doctors. The way this will work is medical students will help Watson improve its understanding of medical terminology, allowing both parties to learn more. The end goal is for Watson to be able to process and understand medical records.

David Ferrucci, IBM fellow and principal investigator of the Watson project said:

“The practice of medicine is changing and so should the way medical students learn. In the real world, medical case scenarios should rely on people’s ability to quickly find and apply the most relevant knowledge. Finding and evaluating multistep paths through the medical literature is required to identify evidence in support of potential diagnoses and treatment options.”

IBM is not the only company using computers to improve the medical field. Many hospitals are signing up for data analytics software that analyze various types of content in order to take the work-load off of doctors and nurses and improve the care of patients.

Jasmine Ashton, December 11, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under News, Technology

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.