“Doctor, you listen to me as if I had all the time in the world,” a patient told me a few months ago. That phrase, which seemed like an praise, was also an alert. In a health system that often hurries, standardizes or depersonalizes, taking the time to look into the eyes and listening seems an extraordinary gesture. But it shouldn’t be.
I am a neurologist and geriatrician. I accompany the elderly from an integral perspective, where the body, the brain, the environment and personal history are intertwined. My task is not only to prescribe drugs, but to sustain processes, translate symptoms, and return dignity where time or indifference were removed.
We are going through an unprecedented technological revolution. Artificial intelligences attending diagnoses, algorithms that predict risks, platforms that automate medical consultation. And yet, in the face of all that deployment, the question persists: how to take care of without losing the link?
Technology can be ally. You can shorten distances, help detect in time, organize medical work better. But it can’t – no one – replace human listening. An algorithm can predict cognitive impairment, but not comfort who fears it. And that is, for me, the most delicate ethical border: use digital to improve the human, not to replace it.
Also work on social networks (@amomisneuronas), in teaching and in geriatric residences. Because I think that knowledge must circulate, and because old age needs to be revalued as a vital stage. The brain ages, yes. But it also learns, adapts, gets excited and created, even with diseases.
Looking again to those who age is, at some point, look forward again. The medicine that comes will have screens, no doubt. But hopefully never forget the power of a leisurely conversation, of a attentive listening, an empathetic gesture. Because that, although no algorithm is measured, also cures.
Dr. Andrea Viviana Rodríguez
Neurologist and geriatrician. Fellow in dementias and diploma in neurosciences and mental health. It specializes in the integral care of the elderly, with a focus on healthy longevity, brain health and link between environment and functionality. Creator of the dissemination space @amomisneuronas.
By CEDOC
