Ai In Medicine : The Risks and Benefits of AI in Medicine
Ai In Medicine : The Risks and Benefits of AI in Medicine
Ai In Medicine : Artificial intelligence has continued to reinvent itself in the healthcare industry. Modern AI and machine learning solutions are capable of learning, acting, and predicting. Healthcare organizations continue investing in AI and the demand for researchers in healthcare continues to rise.
AI has led to improved efficiency and precision, reduced workloads among healthcare workers, and increased speed of operations. Just like any other technology, this technology poses some risks as well. Let’s dig deeper into the risks and benefits of AI in medicine.
Risks
Privacy challenges
Privacy is the main issue in any automated environment including medicine, AI for students learning, business processes, etc. Researchers in AI always develop security procedures to protect the patient data, but these procedures are not 100% effective. There is potential for unauthorized access and manipulation of healthcare data by hackers.
When healthcare practitioners are collecting patient data, the patient’s privacy should be a concern. Even large companies can encounter challenges related to data privacy. Everyone involved in AI must therefore take the security issues seriously.
Some patients may feel that collecting data in large sets may violate privacy. They may file lawsuits arguing that data has been shared between AI developers and large healthcare systems.
Potential for injuries and error
Sometimes the AI systems can be wrong and this may result in patient injury and other associated healthcare problems. There could be cases of an AI system failing to notice a tumor, recommending a wrong drug, or erroneously allocating the wrong bed for a patient. These cases may result in a patient’s injury.
It is not clear who should be held responsible in case anything goes wrong. Errors are possible at any point during the implementation of AI systems, from design to data collection and service delivery. The details of reasons for error occurrence must be established and an event can occur anywhere along the value chain.
Availability of data
AI-powered systems and tools require large volumes of data from diverse sources such as insurance claims records, electronic health records, consumer-generated sources, and pharmacy records. Health data poses challenges because it is scattered in different systems.
Apart from the data sources mentioned above, patients often switch insurance companies and this leads to data split into different formats and systems. Data fragmentation increases the chances of errors and the cost of gathering data. It also reduces the datasets’ comprehensiveness and this also limits the kind of organizations that can effectively adopt healthcare AI.
The lack of a massive chunk of data to be fed in the AI systems may make it difficult to generate results. It is also difficult to consolidate or digitize data in places where low-quality data systems are used.
Benefits
Reduced costs and increased speed
Healthcare processes and AI algorithms help to save healthcare costs and are much faster than the traditional approaches. From examination to diagnosis, AI is a game-changer in terms of cost and speed. For example, AI and machine learning can conduct quick diagnoses and suggest disease in a patient’s body.
AI algorithms have reduced the manual work that was initially involved during diagnosis. Automation in healthcare means that more lives can be saved as a result of quick service delivery. Additionally, apps can be used to enable people to live healthy lives by encouraging people to do regular exercises and reminding them to take water. AI algorithms are efficient compared to the traditional approaches.
The costs saved through the implementation of AI in medicine include:
· Travelling costs to doctors offices
· Costs associated with routine checks
· Additional costs that may be triggered by lifestyle
· Overall cost of medication as medical practitioners can encourage the use of apps.
Timely diagnosis
AI-driven tools rely on data to assess the health issues of patients. Healthcare professionals can compare disease details and make a diagnosis quickly and accurately. The database in various mobile apps has computed tones of symptoms and diagnosis. The professionals don’t have to perform a diagnosis from scratch.
The database can predict the health issues that a patient can experience in the future. For instance, some applications are created to predict non-contagious and hereditary diseases. With such a tool, health experts can accurately predict and prepare for potential future threats by taking the necessary steps today. AI tools offer better operational management through predictive approaches.
Efficiency in surgery
AI development makes use of robotic technology. Similarly, there is increased machine learning implementation in surgery. The dedicated AI surgical systems can execute movements in a human body with 100% accuracy. Thus, complex operations can be done efficiently with reduced possibilities of side effects, pain, or loss of blood. With AI applications, recovery is easier and faster.
Patients waiting for surgery can be subjected to Nanorobotics that can eliminate possible infections during surgery. The AI-backed information concerning a patient situation is available in real-time. This can eliminate patients’ doubts, especially where surgery is under general anesthesia.
Improved human abilities and support
Robots can help patients alongside medical practitioners. For example, through special types of robots, paralyzed patients can recover with minimal assistance from caretakers. The AI-backed medical tools have sensors that act as reactive limbs that can replace the traditional models. This can help to save costs of hiring caregivers to take care of the patients.
Robots from the implementation of machine learning can perform routine tasks and support the patients well. The service robots are dedicated companions with the ability to carry out essential tests and checks including blood pressure, sugar levels, controlling temperature, and so on.
The robots are designed to assist depressed patients based on the in-built analytical capabilities. With all these capabilities, they can analyze the patient’s moods and enable them to feel positive.
Conclusion
The benefits of artificial intelligence in medicine outweigh the risks. The AI-driven tools and internet have proved to be successful, especially in saving human lives. With AI, speed of operations is guaranteed, surgeries can be supported and diagnosis can be made on a timely basis. The Healthcare sector should continue investing in AI in a bid to improve to make the field better.
