Generative AI tools are swiftly transforming the health care industry, from medical offices to operating rooms. A white paper from the U.S. National Institutes of Health recognizes the innumerable “advantages, limitations, ethical considerations, future prospects and practical applications” of AI in health care.
But with news about erroneous results, from citing fake legal cases to performing poorly answering drug-related questions, it has also been generating controversy and concern. In the medical realm where accuracy can mean life or death, a more nuanced concept is needed: “Collaborative AI.”
Five years ago the Harvard Business Review extolled the promise of collaborative intelligence, the bold potential that “humans and machines can enhance each other’s strengths.” Now in the wake of the rise in use of generative AI, the medical world must remain clearly focused on how machines and humans complement each other, like the symbiotic relationship of health care professionals and patients. Collaborative AI embraces the need for a balanced approach, human-validated results and the highest standards of HIPAA compliance.
Collaborative AI can deliver myriad benefits in medical environments, among them:
• Clinical Support – Perhaps the most promising application of AI is helping to improve patients’ outcomes. With the ability to curate information, save time and enhance care, it can provide exam-room recommendations to healthcare providers: offering clinical guidelines for complex cases, spotting potential drug interactions, even recommending evidence-based treatment options for particular conditions. As triage, critical support can also be delivered to quickly assess the severity and urgency of a patient’s needs.
• Medical Translation – Whether in the office, on the phone or through electronic systems like email, AI-driven apps like Google Translate, Alexa Translations and Bing Translator offer an invaluable tool for communicating detailed medical information to patients in the language they best understand. Especially for real-time use, they ensure a fast and accurate grasp of diagnoses, treatment options and at-home instructions.
• Records, Reports and Recording-to-Text – Streamlining written information that must still be proofed by humans, collaborative AI can generate automated summaries of medical histories and health care practitioner / patient interactions. Assisting in updating records and writing reports, it gives medical professionals the freedom to orally dictate notes with key details automatically summarized in writing, with voice-enabled capture systems facilitating the process of charting, review and data extraction.
• Telemedicine Assistance – Advanced chatbots can supplement staff to help their patients schedule appointments and manage ever-changing health information. In the post-pandemic era, virtual assistants give patients a more comfortable option to receive a portion of their care from home, offering human-supervised guidance and support to manage their health remotely.
• Remote Patient Monitoring – As an extension of at-home care and service, remote patient monitoring has become increasingly popular. Data from wearables and other devices is shared in real time with healthcare practitioners, with AI providing analysis and generating alerts, as needed, in order to enable early intervention which can improve outcomes.
• Symptom Assessment – While nothing can replace a personalized exam by a medical professional, collaborative AI can be helpful for patients looking to assess symptoms and evaluate whether they warrant professional attention. As a valuable first step in identifying potential health issues, especially those that may be critical, a symptom checker can suggest the right self-care before a patient is seen by a healthcare practitioner.
• Medication Support – For those taking multiple medications, especially older and socially challenged patients, it can be confusing to keep track of their medications and to follow a health care practitioner’s instructions for each. Collaborative AI can serve as a home aide by delivering reminders and providing information on dosage, timing, side effects and potential drug interactions to facilitate better medication management.
• Mental Health Support – Psychologists recognize the potential of AI as therapeutic support; for example, as reported in Psychology Today, “Natural language tracking has been found to be incredibly accurate when detecting and classifying different mental health problems, such as depression, stress, energy levels, and sleep problems.” While helping clinicians with regular tasks from scheduling sessions to analyzing assessments, AI can directly assist patients as a chatbot (with human clinician-approved statements) that can offer coping strategies and connect patients with resources for further support.
• Clinical Trial Recruitment – For medicine to advance and develop breakthrough therapies and treatments, clinical trials are essential. But recruiting participants into these trials can be challenging, time consuming and costly. Overseen by medical data specialists, AI can make this process more targeted and effective, analyzing vast amounts of patient data and identifying those who meet a trial’s eligibility criteria. Its reach and speed also allows for more diverse populations to be included, bringing greater equity to the health of patients everywhere.
Since the advent of generative AI, we have experienced the shock and awe of its futuristic capabilities. But in this case, the future is already here, with AI tools that can supplant, but not replace the judgment and experience of a human physician or nurse. The introduction of AI tools into the health care industry, with the careful collaboration of health care practitioners, can revolutionize how health care is delivered, leading to more positive outcomes.
