One of the areas where software (availability of apps or other software programs for virtually any task) hasn’t really permeated densely is the medical field because of the very specialized and traditionalized nature of medicine. While my core interest lies in medicine down to the molecular level (genomics and stem cells and so on), I’m also enthused about using software to create exact replicas of these specialized and traditionalized fabrics of medicine which to a very large extent haven’t been done because most of the current software-based medical systems are designed by non-medical software engineers. Of course, these already existing programs have brought improvements to different areas of medical practice, but I believe, like this post, medical doctors who write code will be in the best position to express the specialized knowledge of medicine in the computer language. So while I begin my career as a medical doctor, I’m looking forward to getting myself immersed in learning the art and science of coding and writing good code. And it would be great to have events where doctors in Nigeria can come together to talk about this.
I think it makes a lot of sense. The best business software are usually designed by domain experts.
To engage more doctors in coding, I think simple expressive languages such as JavaScript will be a key enabler. It runs well in mobile, desktop, and server environments, supports OOP, and can be deployed in modular, easily digestible snippets.
OP - in your journey to learn how to code, what tactics have worked for you and what do you think you need to know first to get started?
I think they work with medical experts on those systems.
That’s the key point: designed; the domain experts might not necessarily write the codes.
@Okaychukwu, wouldn’t the same end result be achieved by medical doctors partnering with software engineers, as opposed to learning to code themselves?
I’m not arguing against anyone learning to code, though.
The end results surely will be achieved (I don’t think same results like 100%, but progress has been made) and partnership with healthcare experts has led to the medical diagnostic offshoot of IBM’s Watson. But explaining, for instance, the complex processes that occur when a normal cell transforms into a cancerous one to a software engineer for representation in the form of code can be daunting, and the final result may not reflect how the doctor totally pictures it. So I think doctors getting to learn how to code specifically for building things in the realm of medicine will not only yield better representation of processes in medical practice, but also ensure quicker adoption by hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare centres.
Still very green. However, I’m going for the rudimentary basics first–HTML and Java–with the aim of using them to stitch together a crude version of what I intend to build when I advance further.
We’re putting such a platform together @Okaychukwu It’s a digital health community for doctors, coders, doctors who code and coders who doctor. Okay bad joke but you can sign up here to get involved. Actually have some exciting stuff to announce soon.
@Okaychukwu https://biojs.net/ When you are ready, you might find that useful
Do you know about this guy, Tijesunimi Peters?
He is a Medical Doctor and a programmer who worked his way into Andela.
He’s writing codes at Andela at the moment and I’m sure he’ll tailor his skills
towards stuffs of medical relevance and applications some days to come…
He should incite the fire in you.
Nigeria has immense prospect with the increasing awareness towards technology creation and consumption. Even with horrible enabling environment, real guys are coming up, by the next decade Nigerians should be be a force to reckon with in the tech world.