In an online survey of 100 practicing physicians who work in a major U.S. hospital or health system and use clinical decision-making tools, four in five healthcare providers (81%) agreed that generative artificial intelligence can improve healthcare teams’ interactions with patients .
The physicians interviewed by Wolter Kluwer also indicated that high demands are placed on the selection of genAI tools. 89% say providers should be transparent about the sources of CDS data and want to ensure it comes from practicing medical experts before using it for their clinical decisions. .
However, they overestimate the openness of US healthcare consumers to AI-enabled medical advice previous genAI in healthcare survey of those consumers which the company carried out in November.
The gap between the willingness of doctors and patients for the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare is remarkable, Wolters Kluwer said in a statement.
WHY IT MATTERS
The new questionnaire Indicating that physicians’ enthusiasm for generative AI in healthcare is growing, which the company conducted between February 8 and 13, shows how much the integration of artificial intelligence saves time in ways that win over the profession.
More than half of physicians surveyed by Wolters Kluwer – 54% – said they believe generative AI will save them 20% or more time searching for data that can help with clinical decisions, while more than two-thirds – 68% – says genAI helps them quickly search medical literature.
Although they want to know where the source of information comes from, who created it, and how it is obtained, physicians placed their trust in technology from well-known, trusted healthcare technology providers.
That knowledge makes 76% of physicians surveyed feel comfortable using genAI, the data shows.
The survey also found that clear guidelines or organizational policies for the use of AI are still being developed in healthcare. More than a third of physicians – 37% – said they had no guidelines for AI use from their organization, while almost half – 46% – said they were aware of no guidelines.
Meanwhile, consumers have different views on the safety of genAI in doctor-patient interactions.
Most physicians (66%) said they believe their patients would feel confident if they knew their provider was using AI to make decisions about their care, but nearly half of Americans who participated in the previous Consumer Confidence Survey the company (48%) said they would not have confidence in such decisions.
When doctors were asked if they thought patients would be concerned about genAI-assisted diagnoses, only one in five doctors said yes. Conversely, when Wolters Kluwer asked consumers about their comfort with AI-assisted diagnostics, four in five said they were concerned.
THE BIG TREND
Although healthcare organizations expected artificial intelligence to be adopted in healthcare delivery, their leaders have raised major trust issues in the past.
In a 2018 survey of 200 healthcare leaders by Intel, 33% said they were not only concerned about patients’ perceptions of AI, but that physicians also harbored similar skepticism. They cited the chance of serious medical errors as the greatest risk.
Since then, countless decision support companies have integrated AI into their products.
Last year, Wolters Kluwer introduced AI Labs, a clinical decision support system accessible to 44,000 healthcare organizations in 190 countries through its UptoDate product.
“With these advanced capabilities, we have an implementation of generative AI that can help physicians make better and more informed decisions to deliver the best care everywhere,” said Greg Samios, the company’s president and CEO of clinical effectiveness, when the company announced its AI announced. integration in October.
ON THE RECORD
“Physicians are open to using generative AI in a clinical setting, provided the applications are useful and reliable,” said Dr. Peter Bonis, Chief Medical Officer of Wolters Kluwer Health. “The source of content and transparency are important considerations,” he noted.
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.