As the world adopted technology in day-to-day living and across various business functions, patients also have demanded amplified quality of care, rapid diagnosis, improved life spans, and recovery from chronic conditions such as cancer. It is time to move past the conventional methods of healthcare and adapt to the new healthcare processes driven by modern tech.
Artificial Intelligence has transformed every industry there is, and healthcare is no exception.
The healthcare industry has always benefitted from the use of modern technology and mobile devices. Artificial Intelligence has added to it, paving the way for improved quality of life for us humans. The impact of Artificial Intelligence for healthcare has been widespread, touching base with almost every element of healthcare – from diagnosis to record-keeping, preventive treatments to recovering from an epidemic.
In this article, let us discuss several ways in which Artificial Intelligence has impacted healthcare.
Improved diagnosis using medical imaging
According to a study, laboratory medicine data influences 70% of clinical decisions.
Diagnosis heavily depends on the data made available through testing. AI helps in deriving higher accuracy of a condition by making use of medical imaging. AI-powered digital imaging tools can help in capturing pixilated details that are impossible to catch for the naked human eye. AI-driven radiology tools can help in improving the analysis of biopsy reports.
According to a study, incorrect diagnosis accounted for around 10% of the deaths in the USA alone.
Improved analysis and diagnosis are hence critical, and thanks to AI, it is possible to even for chronic conditions such as cancer.
Predictive analysis and risk detection
Electronic health records have been monumental in reducing the operational and cognitive load of hospitals and healthcare systems, while ensuring consistency in the treatment of displaced people. EHR has been critical in replacing the conventional paper-based system that was inaccurate, immobile, and difficult to update and maintain. EHR, coupled with AI-driven NLP (Natural language processing) tools, can automate the entire process of clinical documentation. This EHR data can derive patterns that can predict disease vulnerability and infection susceptibility. This predictive analysis goes long away in identifying an outbreak before it happens or in detecting the patients’ risk of an ailment before they display symptoms.
Establishing mind-machine communication
For patients undergoing chronic neurological illnesses, the communication barrier between the patient and the healthcare provider is inevitable. But not with AI! Artificial Intelligence is significant in creating an interface between patients who have lost the ability to speak, write, or communicate. Now, the communication between the patients and healthcare providers is with the aid of Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).
Smart devices to reduce the burden of healthcare workers
The burden on healthcare systems across the world is different. While in some geographies, the population density is low, and the number of healthcare providers is higher, in underprivileged geographies, it is the exact opposite.
AI can resolve the problem of resource allocation. Tools using AI can work as a replacement to clinical staff where the healthcare systems are underserved, and the demand is higher. AI-powered algorithms designed to consider the physical stats and genetic patterns of specific geography can diagnose illnesses and other conditions without an expert human at the site. AI can bridge the gap between underprivileged social groups and healthcare, making healthcare truly equal for all. To add to the value of the care, smart devices can help in identifying health deterioration, automating alerts when needed, and help in reducing the manual load of healthcare providers.
Health monitoring through wearables
This is an extremely common, day-to-day use of AI in healthcare. The wearable tech market is consistently growing and will reach USD 51.60 billion by 2022. Wearables are now a part of common accessories and contribute to routine monitoring of health conditions, from activities to exercise energy levels and heart rates. Wearables are hence an excellent way for mapping overall health and wellness of patients and also serve as user-generated personal health records that are readily accessible when needed.
Drug invention
Drug development has always been a very costly affair. It takes several thousand hours of research, endless clinical testing, and experiments to derive a powerful drug that actually works. An average drug development process costs around 2.6 billion USD because of the multiple trial and errors the process incurs. However, with Artificial Intelligence, this process can be optimized using robots. AI-powered robots can scan through several data points, cross-referring it to drug combinations for a particular condition, and simulating several test results in a shorter span, freeing up hundreds of manual research hours. With AI, the conventional trial-and-error approach is replaced with data-driven biology and hypotheses.
Improved patient service
Artificial Intelligence can help in offering the much-needed customer service, which today seems to be a matter of concern for 96% of the people. AI can aid in streamlining the patient’s experience at the hospital, offering urgent care through AI-powered chatbots, providing accurate patient wait times, and mapping the shortest routes for ambulances. AI-driven tools can help in providing telehealth, where the patients can consult physicians from the comfort of their homes, reducing the chances of infection, and getting more personalized care.
Closing lines…
The world now demands improved healthcare more than ever. With Artificial Intelligence, delivering improved healthcare without burdening the healthcare systems and the frontline healthcare staff is achievable. Hospitals and healthcare systems need to a leverage AI to start a new era of healthcare.