Technology and Humanity.

New technologies have brought immeasurable benefits to medicine. They have also altered our patients' experiences and our role as providers in significant ways. To give you an example, my patient sessions often start with me madly clicking away in the electronic health record, trying to reconcile three duplicate instances of the same medication in the patient's chart. After that maze, a series of pop-up boxes flash alerts to query the patient about weight, smoking, depression, and pain. I am now clicking as fast as I can to preserve any remaining time in the 15-minute session to address the patient's cancer. And, all of this is happening with my back to the patient!