Is there are growing interest and acceptance within healthcare for artificial intelligence? Are healthcare professionals in favour or are they against the use of computer-based decision making? Or does this depend on the application and the supporting evidence?
A new survey suggests the numbers of healthcare workers supporting some form of artificial intelligence to support medical decision making has grown. This tendency is based on a GlobalData survey.
The survey found that 49 percent of healthcare industry professionals with prior AI experience showed strong endorsement for its use in clinical practice and administrative tasks. This interest is perhaps because of the growing complexity and expanding volumes of data within the typical healthcare setting.
Physicians who had some previous experience with AI tended to be more supportive towards the use of the technology when applied to clinical practice. The extend of this experience is one of the drivers for the digital transformation of healthcare.
The report is titled “AI in Clinical Practice – Physician Perspective 2023” and it reveals that among different activities, diagnostics support and treatment decisions support are the two most popular cases with the use of AI tools.
In relation to patient acceptance, it appears that the survey respondents who had previous AI experience were more positive about patients being comfortable with the use of AI to support clinical decisions.
These data are drawn from practitioners based in U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Japan, and China. For the evidence gathering, 426 healthcare industry professionals were surveyed between March 2023 – June 2023.
There are variations according to different medical sectors. For example, practices such as oncology are using AI to assist their clinical works like risk prediction and disease diagnosis. Outside of clinical diagnoses, a notable finding is that the majority of physicians expressed great comfort in using AI for automating administrative tasks.
This later finding suggests that AI has value in streamlining healthcare operations and the current trajectory suggests a shift towards leveraging this potential for optimizing administrative efficiencies in medical practices.
In terms of national differences, China emerges as a prominent player in the global healthcare landscape in embracing AI, reflecting China’s interest in applying digital technology within its the healthcare industry.
Other health-related applications where artificial intelligence is being applied includes utilization in drug development, encompassing target identification and drug repurposing.
