With the industry shifting to value-based care, health systems are continually upgrading their technologies to meet patient needs with more efficient, higher-quality care.
We use the term “connected technology” to encompass the infrastructure of electronically connected monitoring devices, imaging systems, wearable sensors, video systems, and electronic medical records that are rapidly taking hold across healthcare systems. One advancement enabled by connected technology is artificial intelligence (AI), which can help process and analyze the deluge of measurements from monitoring systems, and integrate it with imaging data, laboratory results, medical history and physical assessments and other data that may be recorded in the electronic medical record.
The industry continues to discuss the potential of AI and how it will fit into bedside healthcare practice. We anticipate that AI support will help clinicians face the cognitive challenges in applying the ever expanding knowledge base to the flood of data. Nevertheless, there are questions outstanding about how AI will mesh with provider workflow and how it will impact provider roles. Some argue that AI will lead to widespread replacement of clinicians as it assumes tasks such as image interpretation in radiology and pathology. It seems more likely, however, that AI will augment clinicians by freeing them from routine, tedious tasks and enabling them to focus on higher-value activities that will enhance both the clinician and patient experience and ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.
Reframing the AI Conversation
As we discuss the appropriate application of AI, it is imperative to introduce the idea of “intelligence augmentation,” or IA. Intelligence augmentation views advanced computing technology as a means to amplify capabilities and assist clinicians as they provide care, rather than to replace them. For example, these technologies can enable clinicians to spend more time with more patients, and explore therapeutic choices in more depth that better match recommendations in the literature, more fully exploit signals in the patient data, and better align with patient preferences and values. By adapting to IA, clinicians can deliver a higher level of care, including an emphasis on prevention, where appropriate.
We note that the demand for hospital staff to treat more patients will continue to rise, as it is projected that the number of hospitalizations will increase by 67 percent by 20501. With more strain anticipated for hospital resources and schedules, IA will help to address this demand and provide more human touchpoints throughout the day, instead of just more automated processes.
Improving Workflow with Smart Insights and Connected Care
Due to the migration toward value-based care, clinicians are expected to provide efficient care while improving patient outcomes. The idea of IA and connected care technology can greatly help providers, with the potential to improve workflow by streamlining time-intensive tasks like spot-checking patient vitals on rounds, inputting statistics into a database and reviewing records when patients have been transferred between units. Patient monitors with AI-enabled solutions that continuously check vital signs can alert clinicians to changes in patient status, as well as upload this patient data directly to the EHR for easy access throughout the health system. These technologies synthesize this information from multiple data sources and provide clear, actionable insights for caregivers to intervene if a patient is quickly deteriorating before an adverse event occurs. It is imperative that clinicians react quickly to patient alerts, because 63 percent of preventable deaths are attributable to failure to rescue by a nurse or physician2. The combination of IA and connected devices could ensure no data is lost in translation or transportation when critical decisions need to be made to treat a patient. Once clinicians embrace the concept of IA, they can work with technology to receive the most up-to-date information and make educated decisions to provide effective treatment.
In critical situations, like when a patient is admitted to the ICU, every second counts to provide fast, effective care. Physicians need to have a complete, easy to understand dashboard of a patient’s medical history and current status to make essential decisions for their care. With the help of AI-enabled solutions cutting down time-intensive tasks that are not directly related to patient treatment, clinicians have more time to focus on treating patients who need life-saving care. Outside of the ICU, widespread use of AI-enabled machines will empower clinicians to use these insights to make preventative care decisions and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Providing Improved Patient Care and Outcomes for the Future
With the demand for efficient, quality care increasing, providers need to work together to implement best practices to provide the highest level of care to the growing patient demand. As clinicians adapt to intelligence augmentation, they will see data as another tool in their clinical repertoire to provide insightful, effective care to patients, instead of another item they need to sift through. With more data available than ever before, clinicians can draw new insights and analyze new ways of treatment that may not have been possible without AI-enabled technologies. The marriage between IA and connected devices will continue to improve workflow over time, integrating seamlessly into the hospital ward and improving communication between clinicians and patients, as well as provide clinicians with the clinical insights to greatly impact the lives of patients.
1 Pallin, D. J., el al. (2014), US population aging and demand for inpatient services. J. Hosp. Med., 9: 193–196.
2 HealthGrades, Inc: Third Annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study. April 2006