Technological advancement has added speed to human life. From the invention of the wheel to the development of automated services, human beings always find ways to make life easier. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is entering all aspects of life, including medicine. The massive booming of technology in medicine has undoubtedly led to numerous. Still, also it leaves the medical practitioners in a huge muddle of mastering the advancements to keep up with the latest development. The first medical device using AI was approved in 2016 by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since then, the number of medical devices using AI has massively bounced up.
AI can be applied to most medical fields, including health care activities such as monitoring patients, medical record maintenance, and more. So, the work of managing and recording data could be entirely handled by automated systems, saving time and effort. However, the entry of AI into medical training is not about cognitive activities such as keeping patient records. It can contribute considerably to the training of doctors in medical schools. There is a large amount of medical information that is getting stored. AI can be used to assimilate knowledge for medical thinking. Patients with multiple comorbidities require a tailored treatment method. AI systems can make precise observations based on years of data fed into them. The FDA has introduced Digital Health Applications Precertification Program. This will boost the use of software as a medical device.
Speech recognition is popularly used in clinical interview transcriptions. This saves time and records everything with precision. AI-based medical records can suggest questions based on the symptoms. The history and present details of the patient are put together to suggest tests and diagnoses. Prognostic calculators use only 5–10 variables now. However, AI-based calculators could include more variables improving accuracy. Apart from this, the details of a patient, such as allergies, medical comorbidities, past and current medications, and more, can be used by AI systems to suggest treatments. Other details such as patient weight, gender, and drug metabolism, and excretion will be saved and analyzed regularly for dosage prescription. It can open up the scope for newer treatment methods like cancer immunotherapies. Knowledge and data will not differentiate a doctor if AI becomes a part of the medical team. There will be a common and precise database.
However, can AI reduce the role of humans working in the field, like automation did in several places, including an aircraft? Extensive use of AI devices can reduce a physician’s situational awareness. Complete dependence on the device and data can lead to complications. Another issue is the scope for errors. AI devices constantly learn from the available data. There should be a feedback system where the doctor/patient can inform the device if its analysis is wrong. This will enable the system to learn from its mistakes and enhance its database.
Doctor-patient interaction is one of the most important aspects of treatment. Often conversations and sharing of personal details decide treatment methods. This trade-off between quality of life and longevity of life is not possible with AI devices. A standard, pre-fixed treatment method might not suit a patient all the time. Another important concern is that medical treatment usually begins with a dialogue. The efficacy of doctor-patient interaction depends upon their ability to understand each other. The intimacy of the exchange and its effectiveness could go down with the installation of AI devices. This could affect the quality of training as well as diagnosis.
The relation between the sick and the healer needs to be made of compassion. Bedside care plays a huge role in recovery. Therefore, AI systems need to be installed in the required places ad it should not be allowed to reduce the part of a doctor. It can be installed to relieve doctors of cognitive works like storing information. This will give them time to interact with their patients and offer better treatment.