Author: Nana Turkson
Over the course of the last few decades, Artificial Intelligence has become an amazing resource for many people. In terms of technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has played a significant role in everything from CHATGPT to art and literally anything else you can imagine. Things such as Apple Watches help us monitor our health, but when it comes to healthcare, AI provides amazing ways for daily tasks to become smoother and more efficient. Not only does it help with daily tasks, but with things such as the diagnosis of various patients and the prevention of childhood diseases. Many can argue that the use of AI is taking the world of healthcare by storm, with not only positives but also negatives. Join me as we take a quick overview of AI use in healthcare.
Advantages
1. Helping diagnose patients
We all know humans are prone to make mistakes, it's in our nature. All of us make a countless amount of mistakes in our lives, but mistakes in healthcare are VERY different. Unintentional mistakes may mislead and cause confusion in diagnosis with patients and their families. Though AI is also not perfect, its technology is able to pick out aspects that may have been missed by healthcare professionals such as rare genetic disorders. Doctors like Dr. Prashant Mali are using a machine learning tool called CRISSP to help them do this. CRISSP can analyze genomic data to be compared with a database of genetic disorders for a more accurate diagnosis. Likewise, researchers in the US and all over the globe are using a machine powered by AI to diagnose autism. The system monitors a person's behavior, and development history, and even tracks eye movements. Through monitoring these eye movements, the machines are able to pull apart differences in social stimuli in autistic patients to non autistic ones.
2. Prevention of disease
We often attempt to eat healthy to prevent different conditions or even combat symptoms. Taking multivitamins, eating balanced meals, and drinking 8 glasses of water can help us in protecting our body and supporting our immune system. Many of us may not be aware(including me before I wrote this) that AI is now being used to prevent diseases. I find this absolutely incredible because of the endless possibilities of artificial intelligence use in healthcare.
Another way Artificial Intelligence is used in pediatric healthcare is using it to prevent disease. AI can detect and identify risk factors and symptoms in patients to prevent various diseases. AI is also being used in childcare as well, such as in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. This children’s hospital is using AI in ways that it can find new targets for treating pediatric cancers. It can also help in analyzing genomic data to look out for genetic mutations that might be targeted by new drugs and medication. When AI resources analyze data, they consider aspects such as age, genetics, medical history, and weight of the patient to give out a more accurate diagnosis.
3. Telemedicine
Another benefit of AI is its use in the field of telemedicine. Doctors are now able to remotely diagnose patients, which is extremely helpful to children living in remote or rural areas, and can also reduce the cost of healthcare. It can also help doctors to customize treatments uniquely for specific patients and reduce the risk of miscalculations.
Healthcare jobs can be very stressful, especially since the COVID-19 Pandemic, but AI can also help with this. When it comes to managing mundane tasks, AI can help release the burden and take on some of the workloads such as organizing files, data entry, maintaining records, scan analysis, and so much more. Personal stress and busyness can impact the quality of care provided, a reason why staff mental health is very important. Like I mentioned before, AI can help give out data accurately for health care professionals but can also reduce the cost of care. These machines can ease the load of time consuming tasks, completing tasks quickly and efficiently and can even reduce medical errors.
Downsides
1. Cyberattacks
With all these positive sides of the downsides of AI we listed, it's time to shed light on the downsides of it. Like us, technology is not perfect (probably due to the fact that we make it), so while we enjoy the sunshine and rainbows that comes with our stunning tech, we have to recognize its not so good storm clouds.
Cyber attacks are not rare in our technological world, and this also applies to healthcare systems. These systems that are using AI are still vulnerable to cyber-attacks which can be damaging when keeping a patient's information confidential.
2. Loss in Personal Connections
Though the efficiency of AI is helpful in ways of diagnosing and selecting treatments for patients, there are some areas where human input is needed. Healthcare professionals are able to personally connect with patients in a way that they're able to observe the behaviors or emotions they have, which a machine using AI would be able to do. Selecting proper treatments is also super helpful but like said, AI will not be able to take into account things such as financial, social, and historical attributes of the patient. For example, say a machine/program suggests a treatment for a patient without knowing the patient’s condition runs in the family and isn't going to be affected by this treatment. A doctor, who takes all these many things into account, is able to review the patient's genetic, family history, and finances into account to make the best possible decision.
Takeaways
Artificial intelligence is ever changing, just like us. As the years spin by, the limits of our technology has become higher and higher. AI is changing our lives in unthinkable ways, especially in the world of healthcare. Though there are some downsides and risks, it is transforming healthcare in an incredible way through telemedicine, preventing disease, detecting missed symptoms, analyzing risks and so much more. Even with all of this, it's crucial for us to become aware of the negative sides of AI and count to improve in all the ways we can.
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