In the postwar period, cinemagazines (magazine-style programmes that dealt
with more light hearted news items) produced exclusively for overseas audiences
increasingly drew on science and technology to project a positive image of
Britain to the rest of the world. Here a computerised doctor is showcased as
evidence of Britain's position at the helm of cutting-edge technological
advancement.
A doctor appears on a TV screen and addresses the viewer: "I'd like you to
think very carefully about the next question. In the past three years have you
had a period of increased coughs and phlegm lasting for three weeks or more?"
The patient responds as he would to a 'real' doctor and his answers are printed
out. Heralded as a breakthrough in doctor-patient care by its inventor, Dr Chris
Evans of the National Physical Laboratory, the 'Computer Doctor' was part of
a scientific research project based at the Western Hospital, London,
investigating ways to save valuable doctors' time and enable them to get fuller
and more accurate medical information from their patients. Indeed, for the
patients participating in the research it seems that talking to a 'computer
doctor' is far less intimidating than a face-to-face dialogue with a 'live'
doctor. "You're more liable to tell this thing the truth than you are a doctor,"
says one patient, an opinion corroborated by another.
This was the early days of computer technology and presenter Michèle Brown's
tongue-in-cheek remarks suggest the high novelty value such prototypes would
have enjoyed before interactive computer aids became commonplace in medical
care. "If we're going to see more of these computer doctors in the future then I
must say that this one's got a very fetching bedside manner," she concludes.
Katy McGahan
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