According to a new survey from Outbreaks Near Me, almost a third (32%) of people have said they would feel comfortable being led by artificial intelligence in a primary care appointment – although there would be fewer more (25%) feel comfortable with AI-led therapy.
The survey found that 12% of U.S. adults said their healthcare providers are now using AI to help diagnose, treat, or communicate with patients, but 66% of Hopefully AI will play a bigger role in healthcare in the next 5 years.
Are these results surprising or expected? What do people expect from AI in healthcare? Healthcare IT News spoke with Autumn Gertz, project manager at the computational epidemiology lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and project director of the Outbreaks Near Me group, for answers and insights into the results. survey.
“Increasing comfort and acceptance of AI in healthcare”
Outbreaks Near Me is a community-provided syndrome surveillance tool that supports longitudinal disease monitoring for a variety of illnesses including influenza and COVID-19. Outbreak Near Me is the next generation of Influenza Near You, a decades-old platform conducting syndromic surveillance for influenza and other respiratory illnesses.
The data collected from Outbreak Near Me complements traditional disease surveillance by collecting real-time data on diseases occurring across the disease severity spectrum.
The Computer Epidemiology Laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital, led by Dr. John Brownstein, is the team behind Outbreak Near Me. Founded in 2006, this computerized epidemiology laboratory is a leading global laboratory with a reputation for using informal online sources to track disease outbreaks and trace Real-time emerging public health threats.
The Computational Epidemiology Laboratory partnered with SurveyMonkey to administer this nationally representative, cross-sectional version of the Outbreaks Near Me survey. This survey, originally created to better understand the changing dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic, also collects information on attitudes and practices around topics related to health and disease. , including the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
H. Based on your research, almost a third (32%) of people said they would feel comfortable being led by an AI for their primary care appointment, although less (25%) would feel it. comfortable with AI-led therapy. Most people don’t feel comfortable with AI under these circumstances. What do you think would make more people feel more comfortable with AI if AI makes progress in healthcare?
ONE. Although the majority of respondents said they did not feel comfortable letting AI lead their care, we found it interesting that some did. A quarter are comfortable with AI-led therapy and a third are comfortable with AI-led primary care.
The reality of AI-led healthcare is still very novel, and having a subset, albeit a minority, of the population comfortable with that idea is not necessarily an expected outcome. .
There are a number of things that will lead to increased comfort and acceptance of AI in healthcare specifically. The first is AI trained and targeted for healthcare emerging in the market. Surveying people on hypothetical AI versus human practitioners they are familiar with is likely to introduce bias.
The second is that AI in general is increasing its presence and utility in everyday life. As AI becomes part of every reality of life, people will likely feel more comfortable including it in healthcare. Finally, as individuals learn that everyone in their lives, whether it’s their friends, family, or healthcare providers, is applying AI for healthcare purposes. , they will probably feel comfortable trying it out for themselves.
Years ago, it was hard to believe that you could connect with your doctor on the phone. Now, patient portals, chat features, and mobile versions of health records have become quite popular. We are most likely facing a similar level of change, but until specific medical AI applications come to market, we have to judge comfort based on the assumptions of those who are not. survey response.
Q. Only 14% of healthcare professionals say they currently use AI to help diagnose, treat, or communicate with patients; the vast majority (83%) do not use AI for any of these tasks. What do you think will make providers adopt AI if AI becomes mainstream in patient care?
ONE. A lot of the factors that will lead to the general population adopting AI will also lead to an increasing adoption of it by healthcare professionals. This combined with evolving medical practice guidelines will likely facilitate the integration of AI into medicine. Every new technology that has emerged, from robot-controlled processes to telemedicine, has gained more acceptance over time.
Overall, AI adoption of healthcare systems and facilities, rather than reliance on individual providers, is one avenue for more widespread use of AI in patient care. If systems and networks dedicate time and resources to research and invest in promising healthcare AI, the practitioners in that system are also more likely to follow or adopt AI.
AI advocates in certain medical professional networks can also generate a sense of confidence and curiosity, increasing their support.
Similar to the general population, the adoption of AI in healthcare will be accompanied by the right AI products hitting the market. Our results also show that the majority of medical professionals think AI will play a larger role in healthcare in the next 5 years. There is a lot of potential in this space, but also a lot of hesitation.
Artificial intelligence that fills existing gaps, improves patient care, and makes providers’ jobs easier is more likely to be adopted than artificial intelligence that doesn’t provide much obvious utility. For example, ChatGPT has become very popular not only because of its ease of use, but also because of the obvious value it brings to everyday life and work.
Q. 23% of healthcare professionals think that using AI in healthcare will help more than harm, 33% think it will do more harm than help, and 42% think it will help and hurt equally. One way or another, that’s a lot of hurt. And that goes directly against the Hippocratic Oath. In your opinion, what are caregivers’ biggest fears and how has the industry overcome them?
ONE. The anxieties and fears surrounding the unknown, and the lack of control, make us all hesitant. For healthcare providers, they must also consider patient safety, quality of care, and their vows when they use new technology like AI.
Human practitioners can have biases and flaws in their work, and AI is no different. However, properly used AI is a tool to assist medical doctors, not a means to “replace them”; Emphasizing this is important to contribute to supplier trust and comfort when using AI.
In general, healthcare providers are used to protocol changes that come from tried and tested methods, and AI is no different. AI patient satisfaction and outcome studies will likely help providers overcome concerns around AI use in their practice.
Integrating AI into healthcare practice can be achieved sustainably and comfortably by soliciting provider feedback during the pilot phases of use.
Seeing AI not as a limit to their control over patient care, but as an opportunity to expand access and equity in healthcare, can be beneficial. At the end of the day, providers want what’s best for their patients.
Technology like this could allow more patients to connect to care or types of care that they were previously unable or unwilling to seek. Artificial intelligence in medicine is full of potential to solve some of the accessibility and equity issues that exist in the healthcare sector.
Q. Most people in the general population say they still prefer important healthcare-related tasks performed by medical professionals over AI. Does this guarantee AI will only play a minor role in the years to come?
ONE. Nothing. Ask these people the same question in 5 years and see if they still think the same. The idea of AI being used in their personal care is novel to most people, while human-powered care is the norm.
However, many people who are uncomfortable with AI in care may already be using the technology to supplement their healthcare. If they are symptoms of searching the web, self-diagnosing online, or even using reviews to decide which provider to see, these are more than just healthcare approaches.” led by people”.
Our research also found that young people are more comfortable with the idea of AI-led healthcare, especially in primary care settings. If this trend continues, in the coming years a larger group of patients will be of an age comfortable with AI-led or assisted healthcare.
While I am making some assumptions that attitudes will remain similar to our current results, this seems to suggest that younger people may be driving greater use of AI in care. health care, rather than a small amount, in the years to come.
Provider adoption may also result in patient adoption. If your healthcare provider asks or informs you that AI is being used during your visit, this could change how you feel about AI. Seeing AI in action will probably help people get used to it.
Whether a patient is diagnosed more quickly, efficiently reads the scan results, or can determine whether to go to the emergency room or urgent care, real-life positive or neutral experiences will play an increasingly important role. of AI in patient care.
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