A separate group led by Dr. Peter Yellowlees at the University of California, Davis, has developed a virtual simulation of hallucinations intended to give patients, family members, students, and the general public a better understanding of schizophrenia.
"In clinical practice, there is a huge gap between technologies we’ve adapted and used, and the data that support them," he pointed out. "I don’t think this is any different from other fields of medicine. We’re seeing an increasing combination of technologies often being driven by our patients rather than by ourselves. We’re all going to be grappling with information overload.
"With all of these different ways to interact with patients and get information about their clinical status, the increasing ratio of signal to noise and how we sort this out is going to be a challenge."
One thing’s for sure, though: There is no slowing down advances in technology. "In a good way, for all of medicine these technologies are shifting the fulcrum and putting control of the care, information about the care, and guidance of the care back in the hands of our patients so they can be more engaged and active partners," Dr. Shore said. "I think we’ll continue to see this."
Dr. Shore said he had no relevant financial conflicts to disclose.