Making the invisible visible

I know the world of information technology well, and what happens there is very similar. The days when someone could say they were familiar with the entire field of computing are over. Knowledge has exploded, both in depth and in diversity. If someone has a problem in a specific area, they type their question into Google and can very easily find someone else's work showing them how to solve it. Passionate programmers are quick to share what they can do on the web and help one another whenever possible.

Yet healthcare professionals who possess this wealth of knowledge do not necessarily have the skills or the time to build a website and present themselves properly so that their community understands what they can do and what benefits their approach can offer. Some do, but nothing compares with the impressive collective movement we see on Github, StackOverflow or Slack.

Breaking down barriers and making interdisciplinary collaboration smoother are definitely among Braver's goals. But more fundamentally, everyone needs to be able to find the people with the expertise and approaches that would be useful to them more easily. “We need to make the invisible visible. Doctors are not always aware of each person's particular expertise,” lamented Dr. Trudeau, who leads the interdisciplinarity file at the Collège des médecins du Québec.

But we could not simply replicate the model put forward by innovators in computing. Healthcare is fundamentally different. One person's work uses lines of code and produces a deterministic result. The other's work often involves trial and error, must rely on imperfect observations, and has an outcome that depends on thousands of unknown factors. But both share the fact that the people involved very frequently need help from others to do their jobs properly. Both share the fact that everyone must have the humility to acknowledge that they do not have all the answers.

So how can we improve the situation? Since healthcare professionals mostly operate in the physical world, compared with IT professionals, everything needs to be quick and easy to use from mobile devices, for example. Voice recognition tools are also desirable to further reduce friction when information, an opinion or a remote consultation is needed. And artificial intelligence is also necessary in many areas, for example to turn a phrase such as "back pain when sitting" into a list of relevant professionals.

So far, we are delighted by the positive and enthusiastic response from healthcare professionals in both the public and private sectors. Our mission and our platform seem to strike a chord, and that fills us with optimism. If you feel the same way, or if you have questions or comments, please feel free to sign up or contact us!