Think about all the inefficiencies in your daily life; traffic jams, snail mails, long queues, and so on. These inadequacies though annoying are not a matter of life and death. Such is not the case in healthcare. The requirement for efficiency in healthcare is distinct and the potential for applied sciences especially computerization is enormous. Healthcare has a big data opportunity opposed to a big data problem, thanks to artificial intelligence.
Initially, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was introduced as a notion to imitate human brain and explore the real-world problems with a wholesome approach. Researchers all around the world are thrilled about the upcoming development of technologies which will help in facilitating the mankind to deliver outside their stature. The implementation of AI in healthcare is escalating and deciphering a variety of issues for patients, hospital and healthcare industries.
Take a closer look at how AI is resolving problems and what’s on the horizon for the industry.
Maintaining Health
One of the major advantages of AI is the ability to assist people in staying healthy. Mobile applications are already encouraging instilment of healthy habits in individuals and assisting in the proactive management of a healthier lifestyle. It also increases the ability of healthcare professionals in understanding the needs of the people they serve and enables them to provide a better direction and assistance for maintaining health.
Furthermore, AI chatbots are being used in addressing cases like helping customers select a benefit plan, providing customer service and guiding consumers to resources. Though it is early in the espousal of AI chatbots, indicators of requisite and fulfillment are encouraging. “Chat-bots will continue to get more intelligent over time, thanks to AI and machine learning techniques that will make them very efficient, and of course, more timely than a human can ever be,” says Khal Rai, an AI expert at SRS Health.
Early Detection
Cerebrovascular Accident or Stroke, for a maximum number of times, is caused by blockage in the supply of oxygen and blood to the brain. However due to the lack of detection of early symptoms, very few patients are able to receive timely treatment. Other conditions like Cancer and Alzheimer’s face similar consequences. The utilization of AI is enabling review and analysis of lab reports much faster and with better accuracy.
Recently developed AI software at Houston, Texas claims to detect cancer risk 30 times faster than any doctor and with 99 percent accuracy. Moreover, researchers are training AI to detect Tuberculosis on chest X-Rays which could help in screening and evaluation in TB-susceptible zones which lack access to radiologists.
The increase of wearable and other medical devices used in accordance with AI are also assisting in detecting early-stage heart diseases and enabling doctors to monitor potentially life-threatening events at an early and treatable stage.
Medical Diagnosis
Numerous healthcare organizations are applying cognitive technology to unlock enormous amounts of data and promote diagnosis. The ability to store more medical information containing journals, treatments, and symptoms is much faster than any human competency. Earlier, diagnostic programs regarding disease-specific features were written using predefined assumptions. Now with the development of AI, a wider variety of conditions and diseases can be easily handled.
AI is particularly used to improve imaging modalities which include reading X-Rays, CT scans and doubtful nodules and lesions in cancer patients. This technology combines machine learning and neuroscience to generate powerful learning algorithms into a neural network which mimics a human brain.
Treatment
Beyond scanning records, AI can help take a more comprehensive approach towards disease management, assist in better coordination of healthcare programs and help patients in managing their long-term treatment plans. Using AI, doctors are able to gather collective information on patient’s visits and analyze which treatment works best for them.
For more than 30 years, robots have been used in medicine. From simple laboratory robots to highly advanced surgical robots that can assist a human surgeon or execute it themselves. Furthermore, they are used in labs and healthcare organizations for repetitive tasks and in support of those with long-term conditions.
Customer Service
Healthcare providers are using healthcare bots to tackle challenges in this area of medicine. Patients can now interact with AI through phones or a website for all their medical queries and requests. Virtual assistants are replacing humans in booking appointments, scheduling visits, medication and even billing requirements. They offer 24/7 medical assistance and improve service for any basic requests. Moreover, it leads to the decrease in administrative costs for healthcare providers.
End-of-Life Care
Life today is much longer than the previous generations, and we are dying in a different and slower fashion from conditions like dementia and osteoporosis. It is also a phase of life which is often lonely. Robots have the potential to modernize the end of life care and help people in remaining independent for longer periods of time and reducing the need for hospitalization and care homes.
Eventually, all of us will be a patient. We have family and friends who will also be patients. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence is about improving the lives of individuals so that all the acquired data from lab tests, genomics and so on, can be analyzed and used in real time for the highest quality and most efficient delivery of healthcare needs.