Medical AI top of mind for physicians planning careers

Most physicians rightly laugh off talk of their profession’s coming demise at the hands of AI. But more than a few are taking the blossoming technology into account when making career decisions.

Consider recent graduates of medical school, for example.

The news operation of the Association of American Medical Colleges does exactly that in an overview article posted July 9.

“If you think [AI] is just some passing fancy, you’re making a mistake,” says Elliot Fishman, MD, who’s been practicing and teaching medicine at Johns Hopkins since 1980. “In radiology and pathology, it’s going to affect everything you do.”

The article runs through some of medical AI’s recent triumphs as well as disappointments and criticisms.

And its author, Ken Budd, asks whether AI could—despite the snickers—displace doctors on its dual strengths of established speed and ever-improving accuracy.

“I’m not exactly worried that [computers] are going to put us out of business right away,” Fishman responds. “Way back when, pathologists looked at every pap smear. Now a machine looks at them and once in a while it kicks something out. Things change.”

Read the whole thing from AAMC News:

Dave Pearson

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.

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Given the precarious excitement of the moment—or is it exciting precarity?—policymakers and healthcare leaders must set directives guiding not only what to do with AI but also when to do it. 

The final list also included diabetes drugs sold by Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck. The first round of drug price negotiations reduced the Medicare prices for 10 popular drugs by up to 79%. 

HHS has thought through the ways AI can and should become an integral part of healthcare, human services and public health. Last Friday—possibly just days ahead of seating a new secretary—the agency released a detailed plan for getting there from here.