Can Artificial Intelligence Make Healthcare Human Again?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing various aspects of healthcare, prompting an important question: Can AI help create a more human and compassionate experience for patients?
At first glance, the idea may seem counterintuitive. How can a machine, a collection of code and circuits, improve the human element of medicine? However, AI has the potential to improve patient care substantially, including supporting overworked healthcare professionals and even addressing provider burnout, all while emphasizing human empathy.
Patient-Centered Care
Patient-centered care is a healthcare philosophy that prioritizes empathy, compassion, and trust. This approach acknowledges that patients who feel understood and valued typically experience better health outcomes. Unfortunately, as demands for efficiency increase, healthcare professionals often struggle to provide the level of compassion they desire.
Time constraints, high-stress environments, and administrative burdens lead to healthcare provider burnout. Such challenges often leave providers feeling exhausted and overworked, which can negatively impact their capacity to offer compassionate, personal care.
How AI Can Help
AI cannot replicate human empathy. However, it can create the space for it by handling repetitive tasks, providing personalized treatment insights, and offering around-the-clock support. This frees up healthcare professionals to focus on meaningful interactions with patients. Here are some detailed ways that AI could help bring a more human touch to healthcare:
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Reducing Administrative Burdens and Provider Burnout: Administrative tasks, such as appointment scheduling, billing, and record-keeping, can consume a significant portion of a provider’s time. By automating these tasks, AI can alleviate these burdens, allowing doctors and nurses to dedicate more time to patient care. Studies show that reducing administrative burdens can lessen burnout, making it easier for providers to concentrate on meaningful and compassionate interactions.
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Personalizing Care and Optimizing Treatment Plans: AI’s data analysis capabilities enable personalized treatment plans based on a patient’s medical history, genetic information, and previous treatment outcomes. This approach may improve treatment efficacy, and reduce the stress and emotional toll of trial-and-error treatments.
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Improving Patient-Provider Communication: AI-powered tools, such as chatbots, can provide empathetic-like responses for patients. These tools offer around-the-clock support and opportunities for patients to ask questions or get medication reminders without waiting for office hours.
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Providing Support for Emotional Well-Being: AI-driven mental health apps and digital tools are helpful resources for managing the emotional aspects of healthcare. Apps that offer mindfulness exercises or cognitive behavioral therapy interventions can provide the support patients need to cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotional challenges.
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Empowering Patients with Knowledge and Agency: AI can improve care by offering patients accessible educational materials and helping them understand their conditions and treatment options. AI can also help patients evaluate different scenarios, such as the risks and benefits of various procedures, to make informed choices.
Balancing AI and Human Interaction
As AI continues to develop, healthcare must balance technology with human connection. Transparency, collaboration between innovators and practitioners, and a commitment to patient-centered principles are critical to integrate AI in a way that enhances the patient experience. While AI can assist in delivering compassionate care, human oversight is needed to guarantee that AI is used ethically and equitably.
AI can handle paperwork, process data, and provide support 24/7. Ultimately, the human touch—listening, caring, and understanding—is what makes healthcare genuinely healing.
In the future, we don’t have to choose between AI and human compassion; we can have both, working together to create a healthcare experience that’s efficient, personalized, and truly human-centered.
References:
- Ayers JW, Poliak A, Dredze M, et al. Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum. JAMA Intern Med. 2023;183(6):589–596. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.1838
- Bull World Health Organ. 2020 Apr 1;98(4):245-250. doi: 10.2471/BLT.19.237198. Epub 2020 Jan 27. PMID: 32284647; PMCID: PMC7133472.
- Frans Derksen, Jozien Bensing, Antoine Lagro-JanssenBritish Journal of General Practice 2013; 63 (606): e76-e84. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp13X660814
- Haque MDR, Rubya S. An Overview of Chatbot-Based Mobile Mental Health Apps: Insights From App Description and User Reviews. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2023 May 22;11:e44838. doi: 10.2196/44838. PMID: 37213181; PMCID: PMC10242473.
- Kerasidou A. Artificial intelligence and the ongoing need for empathy, compassion and trust in healthcare. Bull World Health Organ. 2020 Apr 1;98(4):245-250. doi: 10.2471/BLT.19.237198. Epub 2020 Jan 27. PMID: 32284647; PMCID: PMC7133472.
- Sauerbrei A, Kerasidou A, Lucivero F, Hallowell N. The impact of artificial intelligence on the person-centred, doctor-patient relationship: some problems and solutions. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2023 Apr 20;23(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12911-023-02162-y. PMID: 37081503; PMCID: PMC10116477.
- Shanafelt, T., et al., 2012. Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Balance Among US Physicians Relative to the General US Population. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(18):1377-1385.
