The future of medicine is virtual, or better, there will be more and more virtual technologies in the future of medicine, but what do clinicians think about the Virtual Human Twin?
The VPHi engaged with clinical societies, hospitals, and individual contacts between 2020 and 2021 to gather opinions and perceptions about the uptake of Computer Modeling and Simulation (CM&S) in clinical practice. The results of this survey have been published in the journal Frontiers in Medical Technology.
More than 150 participants (n=163) with heterogeneous ages, experience and areas of expertise responded to the survey. The most represented specialisations were cardiology, musculoskeletal, general surgery, and paediatrics.
The survey highlighted that some of the terms related to CM&S are better known than others, with "personalised medicine" and "patient-specific modeling" among the most well-known and "in silico clinical trials" and "digital twin" among the least known. The survey also showed that the medical speciality of respondents correlates with familiarity with different CM&S methods.
The clinicians expressed a high interest in using CM&S, especially when planning surgeries, teaching, and training. However, the usage frequency of CM&S in clinical practice is still scarce. The primary barriers to the diffusion of such technology are unawareness and lack of access to computing or human resources.
A nice overview of the survey results is available here.
Looking ahead, clinicians foresee a role for CM&S expertise in their team in the next five years, but there is a need to increase funding to recruit dedicated CM&S experts within clinical premises.
During spring, the VPHi will realise a new, more extended survey to investigate clinicians' awareness, actual usage, and opinions about CM&S. If you want to get involved in the survey or help us spread the word. Please, contact us at manager@vph-institute.org.
Read the full Frontiers paper here
