Thomas Goetz: It's time to redesign medical data

http://www.ted.com Your medical chart: it's hard to access, impossible to read -- and full of information that could make you healthier if you just knew how to use it. At TEDMED, Thomas Goetz looks at medical data, making a bold call to redesign it and get more insight from it.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

Category:

Science & Technology

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• Thomas
• Goetz
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• medical
• data
• redesign

[Iced1992]

Oh, a talk that isn't an absolute waste of time. Joy.

[SEThatered]

Totally agree with this guy. And it's valid not only for medicine, but for many others as well. It doesn't take that much time to make it understandable.

[Baden1]

This makes good sense.

A good read is "The End of Illness:

by David Agus. A must read!

[MoodyGroove]

You took a very good talk and blew it with your comment about doctors not understanding lab values. You came across like a righteous policy wonk. News flash: you don't have all the answers bud. A color coded lab values page isn't new. I get one at my annual physical every year.

[baseemahAli]

brillant!!

[johnworth001]

superb. people are capable, they can be trusted to understand their data. just design it so they can read it.

[acidcrashguy]

One word-  Ayurveda. This talk becomes redundant.

[1977trishan1977]

This is painfully basic.

[opnasd]

Understanding partially is worse than not understanding at all. Because in the first case, there are actions.In the drug facts it may write, this drug prevents blood clothing. But there are hundred different mechanisms for that that only medical education can give you the total understanding.

(Sorry for my english)

[b3l13v3r]

@richardcadbury - I wish I could click like a THOUSAND times for this comment!!!!

[vegano1]

As soon as she touched my dick, i came and started farting.

Great talk mate.

[ninjatoothpaste]

I think they present data in a boring way so that you don't read it, negative side effects and that - there are too many hypercondriacs in this world. Personally I research every drug I take, prescribed or otherwise, for two reasons: 1. It's interesting to me. 2. I want to know what to watch for if I have a bad reaction and what action to take.