You may have assumed that Artificial intelligence (AI) will replace humans in the healthcare sector down the line on the basis of the headlines you have come across so far. There is no doubt that AI has contributed to its significant impact across every industry from the creation of a robot featuring communication skills like humans to grow more food with the scarce resource, healthcare is no exception. Trends suggest that medical practitioners will collaborate with AI to deliver more personalized care to patients; now they can find their lives partly in the hands of machines working alongside doctors.
AI has tremendous benefits for the healthcare sector; in fact, it is a miracle, but it is still struggling to grow from its infancy stage. The overall adoption of AI is low though machine-learning tools have become more sophisticated and their use cases have expanded. The core strength of AI is not only whittling down the cost and quickly diagnosing life-threatening diseases but also providing treatments for quick recuperation. Here are some ways how AI is expected to revolutionize the healthcare sector.
Cancer detection at an early stage
The early detection of life-threatening diseases like cancer, the treatment is more likely to be successful. Identifying the presence of cancer cells is often very complicated because symptoms told by patients are vague and they do not appear to be very serious, but AI can help doctors diagnose it at early stages. Clinicians and radiologists have studied the use of an AI-centric approach in mammography. The team believes that it has the potential to increase the screening interpretation. This can help with a better estimation of the risk of cancer. Human skills combined with AI has transformed into a more targeted tool for assessing the risk of cancer. This use is not just limited to the UK research centers; a team in Massachusetts is also finding multiple ways to improve mammography.
Lowers down the cost of medical services
Medical staff wastes a great amount of time in preparing an avalanche of documents. Research has revealed that half the healthcare expenditure goes toward planning, regulating and managing medical services. The AI is expected to automate the documentation work that significantly increases transparency. It can recognize the voice, send texts to clinicians, and organize all documents.
AI can also be used in developing evidence-based medicines faster. It is the practice of making decisions on the basis of observations made from clinical studies. AI can analyze huge data quickly to find relevant patterns and courses of action. Another important area where AI can reduce the cost of medical service is vaccination and drugs. Discovering new medicines is time-consuming and very expensive, but AI can cut down on these expenditures. Researchers can use now natural language processing to analyze data of thousands of medical reports at very fast speeds to find facts relevant to their work.
AI can implement robotic operations successfully
Surgeons typically require spending 60 to 80 hours of practice and a few years of experience before jabbing a needle into the bare skin of a patient to perform an operation, but AI has invented robots spending time in operation theatres with patients leading to fewer incisions, the lower likelihood of infection and the less pain. Surgical robots are not a recent invention, but the latest models are easier to use. Less time devoted to surgeries means patients do not need to wait for their turns. Surgical robots can carry out thousands of surgeries each year. Experts suggest that clinicians can understand robotic surgeries much faster and it is quicker than for keyhole surgery. As per the current data, many surgeries such as appendix surgery, hysterectomies, colectomies, lung lobectomies are done through keyhole procedures. The surgery can be carried out quickly and in a better way with the help of robotic surgeons.
More acute supervision with AI
Prevention is better than cure. Nowadays medical science is looking forward to inventing defensive mechanisms. The focus is not just the early detection but also continuously monitoring of your medical condition. AI is associated with wearable such as fitness Bracelets. Such devices can help you stay on top of your medical conditions such as hyperglycemia, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Such devices motivate you to keep your health in control. With more acceptance of AI in the healthcare sector, diseases can be diagnosed at early stages and quickly cured.
AI promotes digital diagnosis
AI is excellent in identifying the patterns and hence it helps medical practitioners to diagnose disease among patients. A doctor will look at your symptoms, look over your medical history and then try to make a conclusion. Patients’ self-diagnosing ability also helps them understand the symptoms of a particular kind of disease, but AI makes a decision based on medical evidence not on subjective opinions. Contrary to the endoscopic lens, capsule endoscopy can complete an entire small intestine examination within six-hour operation and take more than 5,000 images. The pain symptom is very common in many diseases. Whether you have appendicitis or cancer, you will have pain in the infected part. This is one of the biggest reasons for not detecting the problem earlier. This is where AI is very helpful. AI-based apps already exist in the UK, but they are at an early stage.
AI has many obstacles to overcome to be accepted by the healthcare sector
Though AI has several benefits in the healthcare sector, medical practitioners are still skeptical about it. A survey has found that healthcare professionals in the UK are very cautious about treatments with AI. Hardly 10% of the respondents agreed to embrace the use of this advanced technology. It does not mean that the industry is resistant to the changes in technology, but it is a cautious attitude that prevents them from considering its use.
Further, the implementation of this technology is very expensive. Not all medical facilities have enough money to invest in this advanced technology and if they borrow money with direct lenders on this website, it can cost a small fortune. The lack of records of patients is also one of the reasons medical practitioners are not able to completely rely on AI. Technical problems also pose a threat. The algorithm is mainly block-box operation and past records have revealed that judgment can be discombobulating.
Researchers are also figuring out the answers to the following questions:
- How can AI be more reliable than human evaluation?
- How can patients trust machines and robots for treatments?
- Who will be accountable in case any problem emerges?
The bottom line
AI has proved its significant benefits in the healthcare sector. It can early detect symptoms, diagnose the threat, carry out operations and predict the possible outcome after a certain incision and treatment. It can also perform some part of administrative roles. Though it has gained a lot of recognition throughout the world, health professionals have hitherto enjoyed very little benefits from it.