How Artificial Intelligence Is Influencing The Healthcare Ecosystem?

"Can artificial intelligence outperform human doctors?"

"Will artificial intelligence replace physicians in the future?"

Or,

"How can AI and robotics impact healthcare jobs?”

You have probably heard such questions when exploring the significance and influence of artificial intelligence in healthcare. There are many speculations over AI outperforming and replacing human doctors. It is an undeniable fact that AI and robotics are emerging as effective technologies and have the potential to perform tasks better than humans. But it doesn’t mean that these technologies are going to replace humans anytime soon. This is significantly because technology has not yet reached that intelligence where it can perform without human interference. For now, artificial intelligence can augment humans' capabilities and work alongside them, performing tasks that are complex to human workers.

In the healthcare ecosystem, AI mimics human cognition in the analysis, presentation and comprehension of intricate health data. It provides considerable advantages over traditional analytics and clinical decision-making techniques. Patient care is already disrupted by the use of machine learning and robotics that provide advanced, digital assistance across numerous clinical facilities.

During the pandemic outbreak, we have seen how technology played a crucial role in establishing communication between people quarantined and doctors. Robots are being used to sanitize public places to prevent epidemic infection. Public authorities are using AI-powered technologies to detect people infected with COVID-19. Healthcare professionals are leveraging telemedicine to deliver safe and effective care to people at home as the pandemic has restricted in-person appointments with their doctors. Having said that, AI and robotics have played and are relentlessly portraying an imperative role in keeping society connected.

Healthcare Influenced by Artificial Intelligence   

The healthcare industry has long been facing a growing demand for effective care. The industry also deals with a growing set of challenges such as rising care costs, inadequate facilities and shortage of qualified medical professionals. Artificial intelligence promises huge possibilities to transform the healthcare ecosystem. It can improve healthcare outcomes, patient experiences and access to effective healthcare services. It is also expected to support healthcare systems to remain sustainable.

The impact of AI applications can be easily seen in radiology and cancer detection. According to Bibb Allen, MD, FACR, CMO of the ACR's Data Science Institute (DSI), AI is poised to significantly increase the value radiology professionals are able to provide their patients. "Today, AI is being used for equipment maintenance predictions and building hanging protocols, but, very soon, it will be used as an add-on option for equipment such as CT and MR," says Raym Geis, MD, FACR, senior scientist at DSI and an assistant clinical professor of radiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Fort Collins.

How AI Will Augment Doctors?

Scaling the impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare will rely heavily on how it traverses with existing healthcare trends. Certainly, it will have a crucial impact on healthcare systems and outperform doctors and physicians to some extent. But it won’t replace them, instead augment them. One of the first reasons is it cannot add empathy. At the core of empathy, there is the process of building trust with others, listening to them, paying attention to their needs and then responding to them more humanely.

Augmented intelligence, an advanced form of artificial intelligence to augment humans, can perform physicians' workflow more effectively. These workflows include reducing clinical documentation burden, performing the quality measurement, and facilitating real-time decision-making.