The benefits of using AI in healthcare are two-fold as both the patients and healthcare providers can leverage the technology
Artificial intelligence is redefining the health care field and all its functions. The apparent benefit of integrating technology is the total elimination of medical error, the third leading cause of deaths in the US. This is because AI can help medical practitioners make the right predictions, particularly regarding the treatment of ICU patients where most medical errors occur.
Machine learning provides accurate predictions about the effect of specific treatments and the likelihood of the patients developing sepsis. Medical professionals can also leverage AI analytics to diagnose, treat, and detect diseases early on and provide more targeted care to patients. Here are some examples of applications of AI in the health care industry and their impact.
See also: Continuous Intelligence Enables New Healthcare Diagnostic Capabilities
1) Minimizing the Need for Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records are a critical aspect of analyzing a patient’s data. However, it is difficult for medical practitioners to extract and analyze the numerous sets of data to make informed decisions. AI technology analyzes such large sets of data and makes predictions medical practitioners can look into.
Additionally, EHR developers can create intuitive interfaces and automate routine processes like clinical documentation, sorting, and order entry, which consume many users’ time. Dictation and voice recognition systems are improving tasks such as documentation processes.
2) Using Smart Devices to Facilitate Adult Day Care
Smart devices have been instrumental in the delivery of adult care. Companies such as Fitbit and Apple have developed smart wearable biometric trackers that are now available to a more extensive demographic, including geriatric and elderly patients. With AI technology, the functionalities of the smart devices are broadened. The technology can now be integrated into adult day care software to sound alarms, detect a hard fall as well as monitor inconsistencies in biometric data.
3) Improving at Home Health Monitoring
The increasing aging demographic demands a readjustment in healthcare delivery methods. Given that only a few caregivers and physicians are trained to address the surging need for home healthcare, home health monitoring has become a viable solution.
AI technology has made this form of healthcare delivery easier as it helps patients and their loved ones understand the prescribed treatment pathways. Once the technology is integrated into care management software, clinicians can monitor their patients more effectively and provide a quick diagnosis to elderly patients.
An excellent example of such systems is the voice-based virtual assistant like Amazon Echo that uses AI to facilitate care coordination and medication adherence for elderly patients.
4) Using Smartphones as Diagnostic Tools
Experts believe images taken via smartphones will become essential clinical imaging tools in the coming years. With the quality of smartphone cameras improving every year, images produced will be viable for analysis using AI algorithms.
Researchers are now developing tools that could identify developmental diseases by analyzing the images of a child’s face. The algorithm is designed to analyze a kid’s unique features like eye and nose placement, a child’s jawline, and other features that indicate a craniofacial abnormality. The developers cite that the tool can identify more than 200 different syndromes.
Conclusion
With physicians looking for ways to provide better healthcare to patients, Artificial Intelligence is bound to become a mainstay in the healthcare industry. The benefits are two-fold as both the patients and healthcare providers can leverage the technology. First, doctors can now analyze patients’ electronic records to make informed decisions. Secondly, homecare monitoring for the elderly becomes easy thanks to the AI-enabled wearable devices. Also, healthcare providers can identify diseases using smartphone images.
