The Unintended Consequences of Technology in Healthcare
Next time you’re in a public place, stop and look around. Notice how many people are heads down, staring at their phones. This is one of the unintended consequences of technology: while the intent is to connect us more to the world, it often distracts us from what’s actually happening around us.
This unintended technological distraction has also had a negative impact in healthcare. Over the last decade, increasing regulations and mounting administrative burdens placed upon doctors, nurses, and radiologists have come at a high cost to those who had dedicated their lives to caring for others. The effects of this have been well-documented, with rising job dissatisfaction and burnout rates, increasing staffing shortages as clinicians leave the workforce, and the continued erosion of doctor-patient connection.
The Dawn of a New Era
As a technologist who has been working on cracking some of the thorniest problems in healthcare, it’s painful to know that for years, despite our best efforts, technology has seemed one step behind in being able to restore the joy of caring for patients while simultaneously providing a more connected digital experience. That is, until the introduction of GPT. With generative AI, we’ve seen an incredibly positive and disrupting force in healthcare, and these gains will only increase as this critical innovation is applied to some of the most complex problems in healthcare.
The Real Story of Ambient Intelligence
There’s a lot written about technology curves and AI in healthcare, but I want to tell you the story that isn’t in the history books. The real story of how ambient intelligence was born.
Some of us are old enough to remember the original Star Trek from the 1960’s where there was a computer that would be listening to the crew have a conversation and then weigh in with any guidance related to the situation at hand. It wasn’t trying to take over, it wasn’t replacing the captain and officers on the bridge, it was just supporting the team by adding insights in real-time to augment the decision-making process.
Charting a New Course in Healthcare Technology
Inherent in ambient intelligence are two equally important variables: accurately transcribing a conversation between the doctor and patient into a text, and then turning that transcript into a clinical note.
The Future is Now
The future that we had classified as science fiction is here today, and ambient listening has already become table stakes. In fact, we release AI improvements weekly to our speech and listening technologies, which have been trusted and used by hundreds of thousands of clinicians for years.
Collaboration and Partnership
As exciting as this all is, the true promise of addressing clinician burnout, improving the patient experience, and delivering better health outcomes hinges on collaboration and partnership. Every company operating in this space is limited by the laws of single company physics, which is why it’s an exciting time to be at a partner-led company. By opening up our ecosystem, we are harnessing the power of the Microsoft platform and extending it to thousands of companies worldwide that are focused on building applications and capabilities to improve the doctor-patient experience and positively impact the episode of care.
Trust and Responsibility
No conversation about generative AI should happen without talking about responsibility, and no technology should be deployed without a detailed examination around what is contained in the data and how it is being used. Key responsible AI standards around fairness, reliability, and safety, privacy, and security, inclusiveness, and transparency must take the center stage in every discussion.
Creating High-Value Use Cases
In the end, the real testament to building outcomes-based technology comes down to one simple fact: does using it empower the person to do and be the best version of themselves? To that end, we carefully track the performance of all our solutions to make sure we’re building technology that is living up to its promise and exceeding expectations. I recommend that anyone who is advancing an AI agenda should do the same, because this is the real path to advancing human abilities and improving the healthcare ecosystem.
Conclusion
As we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in healthcare, we must not forget the importance of responsible AI and the need for collaboration and partnership. By working together, we can restore the joy of practicing medicine, improve the patient experience, and deliver better health outcomes. The future is now, and it’s up to us to shape it.
FAQs
Q: What is ambient intelligence?
A: Ambient intelligence refers to the ability of a computer system to understand and respond to natural language input, such as voice commands or text entered into a digital assistant.
Q: How does ambient intelligence work?
A: Ambient intelligence works by using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to analyze and understand human language, allowing it to provide more accurate and personalized results.
Q: What are the benefits of ambient intelligence in healthcare?
A: The benefits of ambient intelligence in healthcare include improved patient care, reduced healthcare costs, and enhanced patient satisfaction.
Q: What are some of the challenges of implementing ambient intelligence in healthcare?
A: Some of the challenges of implementing ambient intelligence in healthcare include ensuring data security and privacy, addressing regulatory compliance, and addressing the need for ongoing training and updates.
Q: How can I get started with ambient intelligence in healthcare?
A: To get started with ambient intelligence in healthcare, you can start by researching the latest developments in the field, reaching out to industry experts, and exploring the various platforms and tools available for implementing ambient intelligence in healthcare.
