Annals of the 2024 Meeting of the Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology

Time and space are inherent to our understanding of the world.[1] The digital revolution has redefined the spatial dimension of the doctor-patient encounter, making physical co-presence no longer a prerequisite for this relationship. However, the dimension of time has yet to be fundamentally altered in a qualitative sense. Time remains an essential component of interpersonal relationships, as the exchange of information, its interpretation, and the formulation of solutions and explanations during a medical encounter necessarily require time.

Notably, time has been quantitatively challenged by the growing number of responsibilities physicians face today, including many bureaucratic tasks unrelated to patient care. These predominantly repetitive and monotonous activities consume much of a physician's time, leaving insufficient opportunity to nurture the doctor-patient relationship. In fact, the effective humanization of medical practice relies on a meaningful and satisfying interaction between doctor and patient.[2]

The digital revolution, encompassing the digitization of medical records, unrestricted access to medical information, and, most recently, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), holds significant potential to free up physicians' time. By automating repetitive tasks, these technologies allow doctors to devote more attention to their patients. Additionally, AI-powered devices and software can manage the collection and analysis of vast amounts of clinical data, employing machine learning algorithms to process this information efficiently, thereby saving physicians' time and effort.[3]

Moreover, humanistic insights derived from patients' narratives could conceivably be analyzed by large language models such as ChatGPT-4, helping physicians gain a deeper hermeneutical understanding of their patients' journeys through illness. At the 2024 Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting, several thought-provoking presentations addressed these topics, and some of these studies have been selected for inclusion in this issue of the Brazilian Journal of Oncology.

The digital era has the potential to foster medical humanization—provided the time saved is genuinely invested in strengthening the doctor-patient relationship. If, however, this saved time is instead allocated to other, more financially rewarding tasks, the technology may ultimately increase physicians' workloads and fail to support the pursuit of a more humanized practice of medicine.

Auro del Giglio, MD, FACP

Editor-in-Chief, BJO

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
06. Mai 2025

• References

• 1 Kant I. Critique of Pure Reason. Revised ed. Weigelt M, organizer. London: Penguin Classics; 2008: 784
• 2 Todres L, Galvin KT, Holloway I. The humanization of healthcare: A value framework for qualitative research. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being 2009; 4 (02) 68-77
• 3 Beam AL, Drazen JM, Kohane IS, Leong TY, Manrai AK, Rubin EJ. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. N Engl J Med 2023; 388 (13) 1220-1221