Medical researchers: ‘Doctors must be the leaders in the digital evolution of medicine.’
The roots of medicine are in the promotion of human welfare, aka humanitarianism. Healthcare AI can either degrade or reinforce this heritage. The path it follows is more in the hands of physicians than of any other stakeholders—and rightly so.
That’s the position of researchers in Brazil who defend their opinion in peer-reviewed commentary published Aug. 17.
“AI has vast potential for reshaping the provision of healthcare, particularly when properly integrated into clinical practice by physicians who fully understand the complexities of caring for patients,” the authors write. “With the application of accessible technologies like wearable devices and clinically guided automated solutions, digital transformation of healthcare can happen without imposing a high cost burden on the healthcare sector—and without sacrificing an unyielding physician–patient relationship based on quality of care.”
The authors are Dr. Carlos Darcy Bersot of the Federal University of São Paulo and Dr. Vitor Alves Felipe of the Brazilian National Cancer Institute. Here are five of their key points.
1. To make the leap from promise to practice, AI must reach beyond administrative tasks and become firmly integrated into patient care.
“Such a necessary evolution demands leadership from individuals who understand clinical workflow intricacies and day-to-day realities of healthcare delivery,” Bersot and Felipe write. They acknowledge the crucial role played by software engineers, data scientists and AI experts before adding:
‘[T]he actual application of AI needs to be physician-led by doctors who have everyday experience with patient care and who understand where AI can most impact quality.’
2. Although so-called smartwatches and other wearables are being aggressively promoted for wellness, their integration into clinical practice has not been fully harnessed.
“These devices, although costly and attention-grabbing, often [make] unproven clinical assertions,” the researchers write. “The greatest challenge is not the development of new technologies but the use of existing information: bridging it with clinical insight and transforming it into actionable clinical decisions.”
‘This vision redefines follow-up care from interval-based visits to dynamic, personalized care.’
3. For digital transformation to succeed, it must be clinically led by those most directly involved in the delivery of healthcare.
“Clinicians, through their system-wide view and clinical expertise, are well positioned to lead the effective implementation of digital solutions,” the authors point out. “They must work not as passive recipients but as active creators of medical technology.”
‘The value of a doctor today is not only in clinical proficiency but also in his or her ability to understand the patient journey and the complexity of healthcare ecosystems. Such understanding, when combined with AI proficiency, can define scalable, effective, and sustainable solutions adapted to the real world.’
4. Automated AI systems possess the capacity to continuously assess treatment between visits, monitoring adherence and therapeutic efficacy dynamically.
Individualized automation “enables patients to receive immediate, personalized responses to routine inquiries—not based on generalized internet information but on their physician’s protocols,” the authors note. “These types of programs reduce unnecessary physician interruption while offering patients accurate, 24/7 medical information.”
‘Rather than alienating patients from providers, this technology supports physician–patient rapport through integrated, personalized, continuous, and affordable care.’
5. Well-integrated AI has the potential to address current system weaknesses by getting [healthcare] back to the patient.
“Clinically guided intelligent systems can eliminate irrelevant information, prioritize key data and allow physicians to make timely decisions,” Bersot and Felipe state before concluding:
‘The main challenge is clear: Doctors must be the leaders in the digital evolution of medicine.’
The paper is posted in full for free.
- In other research news:
- Ohio State University: How AI support can go wrong in safety-critical settings
- University of Virginia: AI, full automation could expand artificial pancreas to more diabetes patients
- Carnegie Mellon University: Meet Allie, the AI-powered chess bot trained on data from 91 million games
- Ohio State University: How AI support can go wrong in safety-critical settings
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.