Artificial Intelligence (AI) has captured the imagination of nearly every industry with its promises of unparalleled efficiency. In healthcare, that can mean everything from detecting diseases earlier to improving diagnostic accuracy. AI truly seems poised to transform the field.
Yet, despite the excitement, a critical question remains: Is the healthcare sector genuinely ready to embrace AI, or are we getting ahead of ourselves? In this article, let’s take a critical view of the situation as we prepare for whatever 2025 brings the healthcare industry.
What Exactly is the Hype About in Healthcare?
In a recent Forbes article on the biggest revolutionizing trends in healthcare, generative AI featured right at the top. Forbes notes that soon, we may be looking at highly tailored treatment plans for patients. Even more fascinating is the potential for DNA analysis to diagnose and create medicines personalized to individuals down to their molecular level.
However, just because AI is improving rapidly at diagnosing and figuring out potential problems in patients, that doesn’t mean human presence is instantly obsolete. There are so many instances where factors outside of the patient’s circumstances need to be taken into account.
It’s sort of like the Bard Power Port situation. As TorHoerman Law explains, these catheter devices appear to have an increased risk of fracture and catheter migration. Several patients have now been injured by them.
Now, if an AI model hasn’t had access to news reports about the risk, it might have recommended their use as part of the treatment. On the flip side, a human doctor might have caught a news report and been fully aware of the danger from the get-go. It sounds simple, but if we rely exclusively on AI, we’re looking at potentially numerous small oversights that can have a big impact.
It just takes one mistake and a hospital to realize that a Bard Power Port lawsuit settlement amount can be as high as $10,000. That’s it. Any AI-influenced decision is then going to require constant oversight, which adds time to every treatment plan. So, if you’re a doctor or someone in the medical field, you don’t have to worry just yet.
Can AI Help in Cutting Down Simple Errors?
While it might still be risky to fully rely on AI for big decisions, what about smaller ones? Errors happen more often than you think in healthcare, and not just in America. In England, over 34,000 medication errors were made in 2023, despite more investment in tech. Sure, it’s still lower than the 43,452 errors in 2021, but the fact is, mistakes don’t magically disappear when you start using ‘more tech.’
However, this is one area where AI can hopefully make a big difference. One of AI’s key strengths lies in its ability to process lots of data quickly and accurately. For instance, electronic health record (EHR) systems enhanced with AI can identify anomalies in patient data that may otherwise go unnoticed.
AI algorithms can flag potential drug interactions or dosing errors when prescriptions are entered, providing a critical safety net for overburdened healthcare providers. Moreover, AI-powered diagnostic tools are reducing errors in imaging interpretation.
AI can act as a second pair of eyes, essentially, and ensure that fewer cases are misdiagnosed or overlooked.
What About AI as Part of Medical Education?
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medical education offers transformative opportunities to enhance the learning experience and better prepare medical students for the complexities of modern healthcare. This is certainly one area where the hype is valid.
In 2023, we saw how ChatGPT was able to beat medical students at the Stanford School of Medicine. AI managed to outperform the students on clinical reasoning examinations and outperformed them in creating a problem list by 16 points.
Perhaps the most effective use of AI is to serve as a study partner or guide. Students might no longer have to wait for their professors to be free to clear doubts and have discussions. Instead, they can consult an AI guide who can clear many doubts one after the other, at any time of the day.
A lot of students in many fields, not just in medicine, do this already with ChatGPT. The added benefit is that you can have context-based discussions rather than relying on vanilla internet searches where you hope someone answers your exact question.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is an example of AI in health?
AI is widely used in health care, such as in radiology. For example, algorithms like those used in mammography analyze images to detect early signs of breast cancer, improving accuracy and efficiency in diagnosis. AI-powered virtual assistants also support patients with medication reminders and symptom tracking.
2. What is the future of medicine?
The future of medicine involves personalized treatment through advancements like gene editing, AI diagnostics, and wearable health monitors. Telemedicine will continue to expand access to care, while regenerative medicine and bioprinting could revolutionize organ replacement and repair. Emphasis will also grow on preventive care and health data integration.
3. Is ChatGPT AGI?
No, ChatGPT is not AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). It’s a highly advanced AI model designed for specific tasks like language understanding and generation but lacks human-like reasoning, self-awareness, and adaptability to learn any task independently. AGI would exhibit intelligence comparable to humans across a wide range of activities.
All things considered, AI in healthcare is slowly but surely going to change the game. It’s not fair to say that it’s all hype because there are some real transformative things happening right now. Yes, there are factors to consider, like oversights that AI models may not be updated on yet. Those problems would go away with AGI, but the world will likely look very different by the time AGI is in full effect.
