Curious what people's thoughts are on this?
They are currently testing out systems now where patients come in and explain their problems to mid level providers (PA's and NP's). Then the info gets entered into an AI program, a work up and treatment plan is generated and implemented.
(This is just one that I'm aware of in Texas. I'm sure there are many others elsewhere involving MD's. I do not know all the ins and outs of this protocol, I just heard from a colleague in a different field that it's being done with a few mid level providers for primary care in this particular healthcare system)
Obviously this protocol still has a human health care professional involved, so it's not as if the patient is directly interacting with AI, and it's not as if a human can't intervene with the plan if they feel the need to go in another direction
All that being said, who would feel comfortable having first line medical follow care being driven by AI?
I think we're a long way from non-humans being there to do the physical exam and implement physical treatments, but the day is coming that many of these decisions could be made without human involvement. As a cost saving strategy, the pressure will be there.
I personally feel that the technology will be there before people's comfort level will be. I imagine that patient comfort will be largely correlated with age (older people prob slower to accept that)
Aside from direct patient contact, I can easily see AI reading images (xray, CT, MRI) and pathology slides.
Several years ago I saw a presentation where AI was shown a tremendous amount of images of skin cancer and non cancerous moles. Then the moles were tested (confirmed by path reports after biopsy). The AI was able to identify cancer in moles that most human docs thought were not likely to be cancerous.
They are currently testing out systems now where patients come in and explain their problems to mid level providers (PA's and NP's). Then the info gets entered into an AI program, a work up and treatment plan is generated and implemented.
(This is just one that I'm aware of in Texas. I'm sure there are many others elsewhere involving MD's. I do not know all the ins and outs of this protocol, I just heard from a colleague in a different field that it's being done with a few mid level providers for primary care in this particular healthcare system)
Obviously this protocol still has a human health care professional involved, so it's not as if the patient is directly interacting with AI, and it's not as if a human can't intervene with the plan if they feel the need to go in another direction
All that being said, who would feel comfortable having first line medical follow care being driven by AI?
I think we're a long way from non-humans being there to do the physical exam and implement physical treatments, but the day is coming that many of these decisions could be made without human involvement. As a cost saving strategy, the pressure will be there.
I personally feel that the technology will be there before people's comfort level will be. I imagine that patient comfort will be largely correlated with age (older people prob slower to accept that)
Aside from direct patient contact, I can easily see AI reading images (xray, CT, MRI) and pathology slides.
Several years ago I saw a presentation where AI was shown a tremendous amount of images of skin cancer and non cancerous moles. Then the moles were tested (confirmed by path reports after biopsy). The AI was able to identify cancer in moles that most human docs thought were not likely to be cancerous.