Can Artificial Narrow Intelligence Improve Patient Safety?

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Shapiro Law Group

misdiagnosis

Artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) may play a role in providing care for patients and their families in the near future. According to the Harvard Business Review, ANI systems can offer suggestions, update hospital staff with need-to-know information and prevent medical errors. In many ways, ANI could improve patient safety.

ANI systems can gather massive amounts of data, and pick up on specific patterns human beings would miss. It could use patient chart information and warn doctors of specific drug interactions. If a patient were to crash, it could provide nurses and doctors with the most pertinent information required to provide treatment. ANI could help protect patients from misdiagnosis, one of the most common medical mistakes.

Could ANI Improve Patient Safety by Preventing Misdiagnosis?

IBM’s Watson, an ANI system, has proven it can diagnose patients in a matter of minutes. Doctors at the University of Tokyo were stunned after Watson saved the life of a woman with an undiagnosed and rare form of leukemia.

The doctors gave the woman a misdiagnosis months earlier. Once Watson became involved, it diagnosed the woman in 10 minutes by analyzing 20 million cancer research papers. Watson accomplished the same feat for another leukemia patient shortly afterwards.

Human doctors could not have reviewed 20 million separate cancer research papers in 10 minutes. It would have taken months if not years even with the best algorithms for sifting through data. If ANI systems can accurately diagnose patients with a specific form of cancer in 2016, imagine what they could do by 2026!

Do you believe high-tech equipment and software like ANI will play a role in preventing medical malpractice and hospital mistakes?

Tags: Futurism

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