Study looks at impact of artificial intelligence on primary health care

Photo by Mart Production (Pexels) - Research shows primary health care and digital health stakeholders are "cautiously optimistic" about AI implementation Whether we're ready or not, artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a role in many healthcare settings. However, cautiously developing, deploying and even defining further AI advancements will determine its impact and efficacy in the years ahead, according to a new Western study. Interdisciplinary researchers from family medicine, computer science and epidemiology have identified key issues regarding the use of AI tools in primary healthcare by connecting directly with family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and digital health stakeholders. Overwhelmingly, the responses show AI could have a positive impact in clinical practice, but many factors need to be considered regarding its implementation. Dan Lizotte "We are ready for AI, but we must be thoughtful about how and when we use it," said Dan Lizotte , an associate professor in computer science and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and senior author on the study. "So let me amend and say, 'I think we're ready to start the process of successful implementation.'" AI and machine leaning (a subfield of AI where patterns are learned from data) encompass a variety of techniques loosely focused on computers performing human-like "intelligent" tasks. AI methods are already used in applications ranging from advanced web search engines (Google) and recommendation systems (Netflix, Amazon) to understanding human speech (Siri and Alexa) and self-driving cars (Tesla).