How Is Artificial Intelligence Transforming the Medical Industry?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed many industries, streamlining operations, decreasing human error and eliminating repetitive, time-consuming tasks. AI in medicine is no different. It's getting more effective doing what people can do, but often faster and cheaper. Like the rest of our lives, AI, machine learning and robotics are becoming more prevalent in the healthcare system. In 2021, AI in the healthcare market was worth around $11 billion worldwide, and it's expected to be worth $188 billion by 2030. 

Technological advancements have already changed the face of medicine, allowing for personalized treatment, early disease detection and personalized disease prevention. Integrating AI into medical treatment could decrease the disease burden for the public, provided healthcare professionals use the technologies with solid ethical boundaries. The benefits of AI in the medical field, at this stage, outweigh the risks. 

What Is Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare?

Artificial intelligence is a high-level collection of computerized systems designed to mimic the functioning of the human brain. It can be used for many tasks, from simple routine jobs like recognizing patterns to solving complex problems. Many industries use AI to streamline their operations or provide accurate results. 

In conjunction with machine learning — computers' ability to learn and work independently of human beings — AI has many critical applications in healthcare, including analyzing massive amounts of patient data and identifying patterns not visible to humans. AI in the healthcare industry can flag information that helps medical professionals create personalized healthcare plans, predict and accurately diagnose medical conditions and speed up clinical studies. 

How Is AI Used in Healthcare?

As AI has evolved, it's become an invaluable tool in many components of the healthcare industry, including the following:

• Keeping people healthy: The primary objective of the healthcare industry is to keep people healthy, and AI is already doing just that. Many applications are available to help people engage in healthier behavior and take more active roles in managing their lifestyles. The data gathered by smartwatches and other health applications can help medical professionals understand the daily lives of their patients, helping them support healthy practices and identify anomalies faster.
• Detecting medical conditions: AI already detects diseases and reduces the need for invasive medical procedures. Consumer wearables, combined with AI, oversee early-stage heart disease, allowing medical professionals to monitor patients daily and detect severe episodes earlier when their conditions are more treatable. 
• Providing more accurate diagnoses: As AI can go through large amounts of data much faster than any human, it can access every file or case study on a specific condition and treatment responses.
• Supporting decision-making: Predictive analytics — using pattern recognition to identify at-risk patients, supports medical decision-making on behalf of patients and automatically prioritizes tasks. 
• Personalizing care and treatment: AI can gather patient information to help medical professionals identify patient risks. Together, clinicians and patients can manage and comply with long-term treatment programs. Robotics can also help with patient treatments, conducting complex medical surgeries and speeding up time-consuming tasks, freeing up doctor's time for patient care. 
• Streamlining research: A drug takes about 12 years to move from the research stage to being accessible to people. AI can simplify the research process and identify repurposing opportunities, potentially reducing the time it takes for new drugs to be available and even the cost of new medicines on the market. 
• Revolutionizing medical training: AI gives medical professionals training opportunities for advanced simulations, and training programs can learn from previous student responses to tailor those programs to their strengths and weaknesses. Trainees can also access AI to help them make decisions or check critical information before treating patients. 

The Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

As you can see by the many applications above, the benefits of AI in healthcare are numerous and far-reaching. This technology's correct use could change the medical profession's face, prioritizing patient care and freeing up clinician time. Some of the many benefits of using AI in healthcare include the following:

• Automating administrative tasks: Automating time-consuming tasks like authorizing insurance claims and following up on outstanding accounts can ease the workload of health professionals and save medical facilities money, allowing them to dedicate more time to patient care. 
• Consolidating patient insights: With access to all patients' information, medical professionals can predict health issues and treat patients holistically. 
• Improving diagnostic speed and accuracy: AI can analyze medical images, like MRI scans, and identify patterns and inconsistencies humans may miss, leading to earlier and more accurate diagnoses. 
• Elevating healthcare accessibility: There are significant differences in life expectancy between developed and underdeveloped countries due to limited healthcare access in poorer nations. AI can provide healthcare in underdeveloped areas, providing digital diagnoses based on pattern recognition. 

Potential Drawbacks of AI in the Healthcare Industry

While AI has significant benefits, no system is perfect, and there are some drawbacks for medical professionals to consider, including the following:

• Requiring human oversight: As dynamic as artificial intelligence is, it cannot operate without human oversight. For example, a robot that assists in surgeries operates entirely on programming and cannot display patient empathy. Human doctors will still have the final decision on patient care, which may not be a disadvantage after all. 
• Creating social biases: AI operates on algorithms that may not consider patients' socioeconomic backgrounds and other personal considerations. It also relies on available data to assist in diagnoses, so if the data doesn't represent a particular group, the diagnoses may be faulty. 
• Becoming susceptible to security risks: Storing patient data is a significant responsibility, and AI often relies on data networks. It could be open to cybersecurity breaches. 

How Do AI Developments in the Medical Field Affect Healthcare Professionals?

Throughout history, technological advancements have been met with a degree of suspicion. As innovative technology enters many industries, people will likely wonder what that means for their jobs. AI in medicine can potentially augment — not replace — medical professionals, granting them more time to focus on furthering their skills and prioritizing patient welfare.

AI can free up valuable clinician time and act as a second opinion for physicians, helping with diagnostics and treatment programs. Although AI has limitations, its many benefits can revolutionize the industry. Healthcare professions will likely evolve alongside the technology designed to make them more accessible and effective. 

AI and other technological advancements mean allied healthcare workers must commit to ongoing learning to stay abreast of new advancements. Continuous learning is a fair trade for technology's numerous advantages to healthcare professionals and patients. While the AI evolution may require different training, the next generation of healthcare professionals can look forward to working alongside AI to provide more comprehensive and personalized patient care. 

Set Your Career Up for the Future With AIMS Education

Are you interested in a career in the medical industry? You could have the opportunity to work alongside some of the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world. At AIMS Education College of Health Sciences, we focus on educating healthcare professionals for tomorrow. Our in-depth and career-focused degree and certificate programs are designed to prepare students for a career in the medical field. 

If you would like to explore a career in the healthcare industry, request more information about AIMS education, or register for a virtual info session and get started with your dream career today.