As part of a joint artificial intelligence pilot program with Microsoft and Epic initially launched in 2023 – and driven by growing demand to address workforce shortages and healthcare needs growing – UW Health nurses began testing how a large language model could help compose responses to patient questions submitted through the health system’s patient portal. international.
“It is important that we, as nurses, be part of the discussion when using this technology to care for patients,” said Rudy Jackson, chief nursing executive at UW Health. .
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The Madison, Wisconsin-based health system said in its announcement that notices drafted with the LLM were reviewed and edited.
Since September, more than 75 UW Health nurses have begun using synthetic AI to generate more than 3,000 messages for patients across more than 30 departments.
UW Health said patient information accessed by generation is kept private and secure in the electronic health record system.
The nurses called it “exciting”.
Amanda Weber, registered nurse said: “I found starting a draft helpful and I’m pleased to be able to provide feedback on improvements and features to ensure this can be a good tool for nurses and has a positive impact on our patients”. UW Health clinic supervisor, said in a statement.
UW Health says its purpose is to shape how AI can benefit patients, nursing and the healthcare industry at large, while enhancing its academic nursing programs.
“We look forward to trying innovative approaches to ensure our nurses have the tools they need to focus on their patient care,” Jackson added.
BIGGER TREND
UW Health is also partnering with Epic on a new effort to democratize health AI validation that aims to standardize the process for testing AI models against local population data.
“Most healthcare organizations today do not have the capabilities or human resources to test and monitor local models”. Healthcare IT news last month.
UW Health is working with a multi-stakeholder group for peer-to-peer learning and collaboration to test Epic’s first open source tool and create guidance for using AI in healthcare.
Brian Patterson, UW Health director of health informatics for predictive analytics and AI, added the effort “is one of those things that will build trust among end users.”
ON PROFILE
“It is important that we, as nurses, be part of the discussion when using this technology to care for patients,” Jackson said in a statement. “It’s exciting to see our nurses research this technology and make observations and recommendations to make it better.”
Andrea Fox is a senior editor at Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
