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Does the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare help clinicians access accurate information, and quickly? Or does it, in fact, dull independent thinking?
Or, worse, does it help fan misinformation?
All of the above points featured in a recent global survey involving 3,000 clinicians across 123 countries, undertaken by data analytics company Elsevier to map ‘Attitudes towards AI’.
While clinicians in different regions showed varying levels of reliance on generative AI tools, it is clear that a major change may be afoot in the next two to three years, says Dr Jan Herzhoff, Elsevier President (Health Markets).
“We need to be prepared as organisations, as institutions like hospitals, medical schools, regulators as well, how we can ensure that future healthcare professionals and even… current ones are really educated to use these tools… and also that these tools are designed in a responsible way,” he says, on keeping the information flow accurate and traceable.
Clean sources
The survey showed that clinicians had used AI tools or were keen to use them in the future. But they also flagged concerns over the source of information. Given the explosion of information, there is a constant effort to update quality data, the different laws governing healthcare in different regions, and so on, Dr Herzhoff explains.
Comparing the clinician to a detective, he says AI is but a tool, and the accountability always lies with the clinician.
Unlike in advertising, where you can be creative, in healthcare it’s about facts, and clinicians need to know where the facts are from to assess them critically, he says.
In medicine, there may also be different opinions or datasets, and that’s where the critical thinking of current and future doctors and nurses is so vital, he says.
Addressing the noise around the perceived threat from AI, he says, “the clinician has to always be at the centre of the decision-making... an AI algorithm cannot take that over”.
Part of information analytics company Relx in the UK, Elsevier focuses on researchers and healthcare professionals, and its scientific journals include The Lancet and Gray’s Anatomy.
Elsevier Health provides evidence-based information to support clinical decision-making, he adds.
Its ClinicalKey AI tool, launched this year, is available in 30 countries including India, and helps doctors search for quick information, says Dr Herzhoff.
A useful tool that will be put to the test in regions like India, where doctors treat a flood of patients, especially in public health institutions.
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