Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Our Next Great Innovation, Part II—AI’s Use in Technology and the APP Impact

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Our Next Great Innovation, Part II—AI’s Use in Technology and the APP Impact Posted By:
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Most of us have heard someone invariably shout out, “Hey, Siri!” or “Alexa . . . !” These examples are how artificial intelligence (AI) has been inserted into our daily lives and affected everything we do. As we work to improve health systems, the use of AI can be beneficial in streamlining several processes that historically have taken significant amounts of time. For example, easier ways to understand disease detection and diagnosis, best practice standards, and disease management are now easily at our fingertips with computer systems that help healthcare professionals (HCPs) hone in on a diagnosis more quickly. The intersection between human interaction and machine learning provides the field of medicine a unique opportunity to improve care. In the past installment, we discussed the enormous amounts of data at our disposal thanks to AI. Of importance, healthcare systems must ensure that the appropriate data have been optimized and deliver precise information. Although it does not remove the responsibility of the human factor that drives healthcare and decision-making, AI-powered automation will give the HCP a more remarkable ability to improve quality, outcomes, and patient satisfaction.

One can look at quality and safety metrics to illustrate how AI can improve overall care. As HCPs gain more clinical experience, their effectiveness in producing quality care should naturally increase. With the help of AI, machine learning and reinforced learning can allow those same HCPs to improve their outcomes because of greater efficiency. This would lead to better outcomes, increased productivity, and improved usability by having effective systems to aid the HCP. Consequently, the system would gain increased ability to improve access and expand services by running a more efficient global system. This, in turn, would increase patient satisfaction and engagement. Optimizing these workflows can give the healthcare system an advantage over its previous experiences.

To provide a simple example of workflow optimization, one only needs to look at the revolution that the electronic health record has given medicine. In the past, manual requests for records of patient information, labs, tests, and other important clinical information were slow and required numerous steps to accomplish this. Now, with the push of a button, medical records can be generated from multiple healthcare systems when appropriately linked, and HCPs have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. The ability to use big data to gain and improve insight and management of patient care allows the HCP to practice with greater efficiency, quality, and enhanced safety. Properly managed, these processes should also create an efficient process that will, in turn, reduce cost. Some examples include reducing duplicative testing, pharmacologic management and communications between practitioners and pharmacies, and referral systems linked to the same electronic medical record for enhanced communication between practices. As this technology advances, the ability to improve patient care only becomes more refined.

AI has significantly affected numerous healthcare systems for physician associates (PA) and nurse practitioners (NP). PAs and NPs use clinical decision support tools daily with diagnostic testing (ECGs, x-rays, MRI, CT scans), treatment recommendations, medication safety reconciliation pathways, and improved communication with patients through their medical records. In addition, patient engagement tools continually increase, which gives the PA and NP greater ability to communicate and enhance patient satisfaction. Furthermore, the PA and NP can improve the healthcare system through patient health monitoring and quality metrics (length of stay, infection rates, social determinants of health, precision medicine); this enhances HCPs’ ability to provide care at the top of their license. In all, diagnostic support systems and predictive analytics will be the driving forces in the coming years. The enhancement of treatment recommendation systems, patient monitoring systems, and robotic surgery are just a few examples of the explosion of information and innovation that will be commonplace as healthcare adjusts to these new realities.

Because so many processes will affect HCPs as they continue to use more enhanced versions of AI, the development of enhanced machine learning, big data, and the infinite amount of metrics it can produce give healthcare the ability to improve service delivery, increase safety, and reduce costs. A notable advantage is to create a seamless approach between the human side of delivering healthcare and allowing AI to provide quality information that will ultimately reduce medical errors.

This second of 3 discussions further explains how AI will affect processes throughout the healthcare arena. This will have an evident impact on PAs and NPs, and additional measures will arise to keep up with the rapidly growing technology. In the last of this series, we will discuss the future impact this will have on the system and how this technology evolves over time. 


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Filed under: Health Policy and Trends , Miscellaneous

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