Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently experiencing a surge in popularity and is gaining recognition for its impact on numerous industries. One of the areas where AI has been less highlighted but is increasingly being leveraged is in healthcare. Contrary to common misconceptions of AI as robotic physicians, AI in healthcare is more accurately described as a blend of human and machine intelligence that offers several benefits to both medical professionals and patients. In this article, we will elaborate on three real-world observations of how AI has been transformative in healthcare.
As a primary example, AI is playing a central role in radiology. It offers considerable assistance in managing a constantly escalating workload due to a notable shortage of physicians in the field. A study demonstrated that AI-based prioritization of reading radiology work reports had a positive effect on the time taken to interpret head CTs with intracranial hemorrhage. The result was a decrease in queue-adjusted wait time from 15.45 minutes to 12.02 minutes, thus accelerating the provision of critical medical interventions. A different study found a 90% reduction in wait time for incidental pulmonary embolism patients due to AI-based triaging.
AI is also demonstrating transformative effects in other service lines. AI applications in neurology have led to incredible advancements in areas such as image analysis, patient follow-up, and AI-based alerts among others. Notably, adopting an AI-augmented radiology worklist triaging system at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center led to a reduced hospital stay length for intracranial hemorrhage patients. AI’s role in cardiovascular treatment has also yielded similar benefits, from patient management solutions, deep EHR integrations to system-level analytic platforms.
Moreover, AI has shown its potential in supporting pulmonary embolism response teams. A case study from Yale New Haven Hospital revealed that AI-facilitated communication among team members and notifications about new developments in patient diagnoses on mobile phones led to a 40% increase in advanced therapy at a spoke facility.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that AI in healthcare is just starting to gather momentum. As hospitals continue to witness the improvements in performance metrics such as reduced turnaround time and hospital stay length, brought about by AI, its application will continue to expand, introducing benefits in areas we might not have foreseen. For more information about the importance of AI in healthcare, we invite you to delve into our eBook AI’s Promise for Healthcare.
