The healthcare industry has multiple challenges, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help healthcare professionals deal with them. Despite privacy and data integrity concerns, AI seems to be promising for managing health and wellness. Several new technologies are being made available now and then, broadening the horizons for healthcare professionals and patients alike.
AI is rapidly transforming the processes of medical research, medical devices, and drug manufacturing. So, how can AI be applied to the health and wellness industry? Let’s look at ten ways.
Development Of New Vaccines
It is perhaps the most critical use in the post-COVID world. Some vaccines need specific compounds, such as adjuvants (compounds that assist the immune system in warding off disease). These compounds have to be discovered after analyzing a large number of new combinations.
AI can help analyze massive databases that would otherwise take much more time to analyze. One recent example of this is an adjuvant that Australian researchers have identified for use in modern flu vaccines.
Drug Repurposing
Drug development is a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive process. On average, it is estimated that a new drug takes about $2 million and ten years to move from the development stage and get federal approval.
For this reason, many drug manufacturers take one approach to repurpose already-approved drugs and find new applications for them. This process requires comparing the effects and structure of unused drugs to existing treatments. AI can be of significant use in this area as it enables researchers to select potential drug repurposing candidates in less time.
Virtual Nurses
Healthcare facilities are often in situations where they are short of staff or funds, for instance, during natural disasters or a pandemic. In such cases, patients may be left unattended. It may cause them to stay unaware of their condition and how to deal with it.
Medtech companies have created Virtual AI nurses capable of providing 24/7 bedside support. These AI nurses can utilize details from the patient’s medical records to update patients about their health, provide treatment recommendations, and build personalized relationships.
Clinical Support
Treating patients requires doctors to utilize the available medical literature, especially regarding rare health issues. However, due to the large volume of medical literature and time constraints, healthcare professionals can often use the medical literature well. It can affect the quality of treatment that they can provide.
AI can quickly scan the literature and present it in simple language to make it easier to use quickly. Several clinical support models have been created using AI to utilize this strength. These models offer unmatchable clinical support to doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Data Extraction From Medical Records
Maintaining medical records for patients is a crucial requirement in healthcare because they hold vital information that informs diagnosis and treatment. With the significant number of patients and each electronic health record (EHR) containing multiple documents related to their medical history and treatment plan, it is hard for healthcare professionals to extract meaningful information quickly.
AI models are helpful in this area because they can quickly parse through medical records, fish out essential information, and present it in a simple format that doctors can quickly read.
Prediction of Adverse Drug Events
Adverse drug effects refer to problems caused by medicines. Healthcare professionals attempt to avoid causing adverse drug effects when prescribing or administering drugs. They do this by carefully selecting the drugs according to the patient’s medical history.
Nevertheless, sometimes problems can occur due to mistakes. On average, ADEs may lead to up to three more days in the hospital, amounting to $4 billion every year. This problem can be solved with AI, which can quickly go through a patient’s medical records and help doctors make informed decisions that lead to adverse drug interactions.
An excellent example of AI in action is the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Texas, which used a customized AI model to identify the possibility of ADEs. They managed to prevent over 2,000 ADEs over two years.
Improvement in Pathology
Pathologists have to spend long durations analyzing tissue samples to study signs of diseases like cancer. AI models can help quickly identify irregular tissue samples, speeding up the process significantly.
Lung Cancer Screening
Doctors must use a standard CT scan of a patient’s lungs to screen for lung cancer. While this is an excellent way to detect lung cancer, it is very time-consuming. There is also the risk of overexposure to dangerous levels of radiation.
AI has been helpful in this case as well. The latest AI technology in this area can speed up the screening process and refine completed scans. With this technology, doctors can get the same or better results with low-dose CT scans, making the process quicker and safer.
Detecting Other Cancers
AI is also helpful in the detection of other types of cancer, such as breast cancer. It helps refine the results, streamlines the diagnosis process, and saves precious time.
Information Management
AI has significantly contributed to the management of information in the healthcare industry. It has allowed systems to be more streamlined and accessible. The benefits of this include patients getting medical attention faster, increased comfort, a lesser strain on healthcare professionals, and the possibility of innovations like telemedicine.
AI is useful in another aspect here. AI-powered educational models can help doctors and other healthcare professionals boost their learning and skills by making access to knowledge and resources much quicker and simpler than ever.
There are many areas where AI seems to be promising. As healthcare professionals and the general people become more open to giving AI technology a shot, the world will observe a significant transformation in providing health and wellness services. The healthcare industry constantly faces several challenges, and AI could be the answer.
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