Dr. Airica Steed is an award-winning healthcare executive whose record of large-scale transformation speaks for itself. As the survivor of a personal tragedy, she’s passionate about eliminating the death gap, ensuring that every person has the opportunity to lead a fulfilling life.
Dr. Steed has shared her view of artificial intelligence in healthcare, saying that it can’t replace the personal touch of healthcare professionals like nurses and physicians.
Uses of AI in healthcare
Artificial intelligence speeds up and simplifies inefficient processes and gives workers more time to focus on tasks that require high-level thinking and communication skills. As a result, it has several promising applications in healthcare.
Diagnostic guidance
Not every disease has noticeable symptoms, making accurate diagnoses difficult. AI shows terrific potential for helping healthcare professionals identify subtle signs of disease and improve health outcomes.
For example, researchers at the Beckman Institute used deep neural networks to develop a tool capable of identifying tumors. The tool looks for subtle changes in medical images and flags areas of concern.
Patient communication
Even the most dedicated healthcare professionals need help balancing clinical and administrative duties. AI can help these professionals streamline some processes, giving them more time to focus on patient care and improving their outlook.
The University of Pennsylvania already uses an AI-powered text message system (Penny) to communicate with patients receiving chemotherapy for GI cancers. Penny sends daily messages, allowing patients to report new side effects and update healthcare providers about their physical and mental well-being. If a patient’s responses are concerning, Penny sends an alert to the care team, allowing a physician or nurse to reach out and make a connection.
Personalized treatment
One-size-fits-all treatment approaches rarely work because every patient has different environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors. Until now, delivering personalized treatment has been extraordinarily difficult — a problem that AI tools capable of analyzing vast amounts of data can help resolve.
With these tools, it’s possible to identify genetic variations that could make a treatment more or less effective. AI is also useful for developing new drugs, as it helps researchers better understand drug targets. Some scientists have even used AI tools to create new molecules for testing.
Administrative tasks
Medical facilities like hospitals and outpatient clinics generate copious paperwork, leaving professionals swamped with tedious tasks. AI increases efficiency, giving human workers more time to connect with patients.
Ethical considerations and risks: Dr. Airica Steed explains
Although AI has life-changing potential, it presents ethical challenges. Practitioners must balance using AI to improve patient outcomes and leaning on it unnecessarily.
Data privacy
Privacy is always a concern when managing large amounts of data, mainly when your datasets include Social Security numbers, genetic information, medical diagnoses, and physical addresses. AI works across state lines and international borders, challenging the development of broad privacy policies. You also need to think about how data will be used, as some patients have expressed concerns about having their private information shared with law enforcement or used to train new AI tools.
Algorithmic bias
Machine learning algorithms learn by analyzing training data. If a data scientist includes potentially biased data — even if the bias is unintentional or coincidental — during training, the ML algorithm may develop the same bias. Because of this, the ML algorithms may make biased decisions based on a patient’s sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, ethnicity, disability, or gender. Dr. Steed is constantly working to increase equity in healthcare, so she advises other professionals to exercise caution when relying on AI tools, especially when it comes to diagnosing and treating.
Job displacement
AI processes data much faster than humans, potentially reducing the need for manual tasks. Because of this, many healthcare workers are worried.
Healthcare organizations can help workers with these fears by offering benefits like on-the-job training. Assisting employees to develop new skills is a great way to reduce AI’s effect on healthcare employment. It’s also ideal for medical facilities to address their future hiring needs. If you provide training today, you’ll have a much larger pool of qualified people in the future.
Making the benefits of AI accessible to all patients
AI is valuable for healthcare providers and their patients. Unfortunately, not all patients have the same resources. It can be difficult for them to get care or have healthy habits. If you decide to use AI in your practice, you must consider how to make its benefits available to all patients.
Blending technology with human connection
Although Dr. Airica Steed acknowledges the benefits of AI, she fully supports patient-centered care, which relies on empathy, compassion, and human interaction. According to Dr. Steed, no computer or algorithm can replace these qualities, so focusing on something other than technological innovation is essential.
Also Read: Travis LeFever: Innovating Healthcare Access with Purpose and Sustainability
