AI- A New Champion in the Healthcare System

AI, ChatGPT, Machine learning, Deep learning – these terminologies are making all the buzz in every industry. The ideal way for companies to stay relevant in the market is to be proactive in identifying the best potential of the new technologies and adopting them to their goals. 

The companies working in partnership with the healthcare system are not behind in hitting the brief, and numerous platforms are now utilizing AI and rationalizing the healthcare industry. 

Here are a few of those splendid examples:

1) Identify Future Lung Cancer Risks

MIT researchers have developed an AI model tool, Sybil, that can predict lung cancer risk in an individual. It has been done by obtaining numerous, diverse sets of CT scans of lungs over the years and training Sybil in identifying any signs of early-stage cancer. Early identification and intervention can improve the long-term outcome of this otherwise hard-to-treat disease.

2) Diagnose Rare Diseases

The Syntegra company is an expert in creating a population of synthetic healthcare data, and TMA Precision Health company works on rare diseases. Both companies have partnered up intending to apply synthetic data and improve the diagnosis of rare diseases. Rare diseases generally lack enough patient data, and synthetic data created through AI can be leveraged in such cases. 

3) Reduce Paperwork Burden and Augment Clinical Practice

Several hospitals across nations are still using paper medical records and outdated computer systems. Multiple companies, like Glass Health, Augmedix, Abridge, DeepScribe, and Nabla Copilot, have created tools that improve the productivity of doctors in practice by transcribing and summarizing doctor-patient conversations in real-time. They also prepare charts before a patient visit. It helps eliminate time on taking notes and improves the doctor-patient relationship.

4) Keep Doctors Updated on Information

It is difficult for doctors to be updated with all the information coming in every day and provide evidence-based patient care decisions tailored to each patient. Atropos Health company is building LLM models for the medical domain by using a vast amount of medical literature and providing clinical answers instantly to doctors.

5) Assist Surgeries

Robotic micro-surgical devices, robotic arms, and eye-controlled cameras make surgeries less invasive and more precise by charting an unobstructed path, giving surgeons better control. Assisted surgeries with robotics help reduce the duration of the surgery, time spent under anaesthesia, and risks related to surgery.

6) Strengthen Emergency Department Systemization

AI is helping reduce ED visits and cost burden by identifying changes in patients’ condition sooner based on their previous chat-based check-ins. It helps in timely intervention, increasing patient satisfaction as well as work satisfaction for nurses as they can reach out to the patients at the right time.

The challenges

It is often heard that ChatGPT provides false references for research articles. It is happening because this application is trained on unsupervised and non-verified data over the internet. The internet is full of misinformation, and detecting misinformation is a vital challenge.

The data on the internet and medical studies also contain human biases existing in society and thus provide unreliable interpretations in certain clinical cases.

Increasing the efficiency

• AI can be improved only by working together with humans in the loop.

• Companies are working to reduce such bias and errors by training clinicians and providing reliable human-curated diagnoses and treatment plans.

• Another step being taken to remove the bias is eliminating additional interpretation from a doctor-patient interaction and bringing strict rules.

• It is crucial to bring regulations and certifications to the process to diminish the chances of wrongful social and cyber implications of unsupervised use of the application.

• The goal of AI is to augment humans. Healthcare professionals need to learn to use the tools to enhance their productivity.