2018-11-19 from healthcarefinancenews

Artificial intelligence is coming to healthcare. In fact, in areas such as radiology and cancer detection, it's already here in places, and is poised to become ever more prevalent in the industry. Which naturally raises a question for nurses and physicians: Is AI coming for my job?

Well, probably not. At least according to experts we interviewed for our Focus on Artificial Intelligence.

That said, both AI and machine learning are in a prime position to alter clinical workflows and physician training. And with the market growing the way it is, implementation is inevitable. A recent Accenture report estimated that the AI health market will hit $6.6 billion by 2021. That's up from $600 million in 2014.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms tend to rely on large quantities of data to be effective, and that data needs human hands to collect it and human eyes to analyze it. And since AI in healthcare is currently utilized mainly to aggregate and organize data -- looking for trends and patterns and making recommendations -- a human component is very much needed.

So physicians and nurses don't have to worry. Probably. At least for now.

PeriGen CEO Matthew Sappern puts no stock in the theory that clinicians' jobs are in jeopardy. Instead, he looks at AI more as an empowerment tool.

"I think it does things that are really imperative that are not necessarily what nurses can do," he said. "These tools are not so great where reasoning and empathy are required. You teach them to do something, and they will do it over and over and over again, period. They're good tools to provide perspective, but it's all about the provider or nurse who's making sense of that information."

In many ways, said Sappern, AI can help nurses focus more on the actual job of nursing, and focus more on the abstract things that can truly impact patient care. And it has the potential to increase their confidence, as they can report back to the doctor with hard stats instead of vagaries. Used wisely and it can be a boon to fact-based clinical observation. 

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