Our world in rapidly developing in technology especially in the healthcare field. We can already find artificial intelligence (AI) used in surgery, administrative tasks and analysis. Most healthcare facilities and companies are already transitioning into electronic health/medical records (EHR/EMR) but what about implementing even more AI into the healthcare field?
Pros to Having AI in Healthcare
- AI assisted robotic surgery
- Robots are able to assist and guide a surgeon during surgery from analyzing medical records. By doing so, the robot is able to create small incisions that surgeons cannot do alone which leads to a decrease in after-care for the patient. They will have to spend less time recovering in a hospital.
- Virtual nursing assistants
- Having a robot handle simple questions and preventative care, saves a lot of time. The AI will be able to answer questions quickly and also help monitor the patient 24/7.
- Detect early health problems and aid in diagnosis
- Since AI is all about gathering data, they will also be able to use previous patient data to come to a diagnosis for other patients.
- Technology will soon be advanced where they will be able to detect cancer or heart problems.
- Image Analysis
- Using AI for image analysis is 1000% faster than a human. With the quick analysis, better care is able to be delivered to the patients. This will also be more useful to those in the rural setting since most do not have easy access to healthcare. They will be able to take a photo and send it to a hospital for an AI to review.
Cons to Having AI in Healthcare
- Narrow diagnosis
- AI will only be able to detect from the data they gather so they will be unable to see a bigger picture for the patient. They are unable to see or hear any other problems with the patient and might not be able to administer a suitable treatment.
- Data security
- Data will be less private since the AI will be able to gather data from all the patients that are inputted into its database which also makes it more vulnerable for hackers to breach. Some patients will not like the idea that their data is being shared with others.
- Patient relationship
- The use of AI will also eliminate the use of a patient and physician or nurse interactions. Patients will focus more on using technology to be face to face rather than coming in person. Also the patient will not be given an in depth explanation on how to use a medication or other feedback.
Overall, studies from the BMJ Quality and Safety shows that there are still many challenges for AI. They will become of use in the field but we will require supervision. AI runs alone on data and information that it gathers and does not have any empathy like physical healthcare professionals. Organizations will not be able to run on AI alone.
Would you trust an AI?
This article was created by Stephanie Sok, Business Researcher, Global Healthcare IT, Inc. with assistance from the following base line articles: For more on each please click on the link.
Stephanie can be reached on ssok@globalhit.com.
