Can AI be used in the healthcare industry?
If yes, what are the ways it can be implemented and the domains it will be most useful in?
How can AI chatbots be used to cater to patients and save valuable time for healthcare professionals, ultimately contributing to the Healthcare industry?
What are the challenges that we come across while implementing AI in the Healthcare sector?
In this article, I am going to shed light on these topics and answer all the questions that come to mind.
In the past few years, AI has made a huge leap and brought about a significant impact in various industries. But its impact on the healthcare industry has been truly revolutionary.
AI has the ability to mimic human cognitive functions using techniques such as Machine Learning and natural language processing making it the closest thing to a human brain.
This ability is the primary reason for AI being so efficient in changing the way the Healthcare industry functions.
There has been a defining change in the ways of treatment that has already improved patient outcomes on a large scale. AI is being widely used by cardiologists, neurologists, oncologists to name a few, to better serve their patients.
By using AI, therapeutic errors can be minimized and automated solutions such as AI chatbots can easily make predictions about potential health risks well in time.
To get a better idea of how AI has transformed the Healthcare Industry, we must study The Impact of AI on Healthcare Industry:
Reduction in human error
As per a recent study, around 10% of patient deaths and a number of hospital complications are a result of diagnostic errors.
With the help of AI, the errors involved such as errors in diagnosis can be reduced to a great extent and better patient outcomes can be expected at reduced costs.
Brings intelligence to the healthcare industry
For a very long time, technology especially machines has not been able to keep up with the evolving medical challenges and as a result the Healthcare industry has been using outdated machines and technologies leading to inaccurate results and errors in the treatment process.
With the advent of AI, the results of all the body scanning machines such as MRI, CT scan, etc. have seen drastic improvements, and these machines now provide highly accurate results leading to the right treatment at the right time.
Minor infections to tumors or clots can also be detected at a very early stage with the help of AI which was not possible earlier.
Makes the process of bill payment easy
Patients are generally unclear and confused about their insurance plans but with AI involved, patients now are more clear with their insurance plans i.e as AI helps them in decision making by providing details at length and giving recommendations according to their needs.
This helps patients in clearing their hospital bills quickly as well as reduced costs which makes patients feel happier and satisfied.
Dedicated health assistance
In recent studies, it has been noticed that people prefer to have an assistant that could remind them of their planned activities. This becomes a critical benefit especially when it comes to taking medicines.
As a result, there is a booming demand for virtual assistance bots that can look after people and their health and medication.judging by these trends and growth in demand, AI is bound to become an integral component of a patient’s life, wherein it could keep track of the medication and could also urge the patient to improve dietary habits and lifestyle.
As discussed above there have been a lot of benefits of introducing AI in the healthcare industry. But there are some challenges as well that we may face while implementing AI in healthcare Industry:
Risk Involved
There’s always risk involved when we switch from traditional methods to new methods. The benefits derived from AI and AI chatbots are high but we also run the risk of AI machines being hacked and used for wrong intentions.
Patient’s comfort
Doctors may be comfortable in AI-based machines such as a robot, helping out with the surgery as it reduces their workload but patients might not be comfortable with a robot treating them in the OPD. This may hinder the implementation of AI on a large scale.
Data Security
AI machines can store all the important data related to a patient’s medical history, prescriptions, insurance plans, and much more. In case of a theft, this data can be used in ways that can become a serious problem for the patients, hence data security is a plaguing issue with AI-based operations and machines.
Need proper training
The implementation of AI is not as easy as it seems. The doctors as well as patients require proper training to learn to use AI and AI chatbots which may take a long time also require large numbers of training personnel for this.
Conclusion:
Now that we know the kind of impact AI can have on the Healthcare Industry and also foreseeable challenges while implementing the AI, it can be concluded that AI has already started to bring in a revolution on a massive scale in the Healthcare industry and is going to become an integral part of it. Although there are risks involved the benefits that AI and AI chatbots offer far outweigh them. It is safe to say that in the near future most of us would be constantly interacting with AI health care machines and many of us will have our individual AI chatbots that will be taking care of us, our personal needs and keeping a track of our lifestyle to keep us healthy and fit.
