Artificial intelligence has seen a remarkable revolution over the course of a few decades. It’s uses range widely within various industries, and the Healthcare industry is no different.
Artificial Intelligence has not only made patient care better, it has also reduced the burden that pharmacists and medical practitioners had to undertake in the past. Now, with talks of robotic doctors, it seems that the possibilities are truly endless. The health sector of tech-friendly countries is flourishing, and the other countries are following their lead.
Utilization of AI in the health sector
Artificial Intelligence has already made its mark in the health sector. With the arrival of the pandemic, a new surge of telehealth, also known as mobile health, was adopted without any delay in tech-friendly countries.
Even countries previously not well equipped were suddenly thrown into the world of AI, and had to find quick ways to adapt to it. This resulted in a much easier approach to follow the model of Healthcare provision. This can be seen equivalent to how betting online has become a widespread, hassle free way to have some fun at home and earn some easy cash. An example of which is this friendly website, NetBet.
Physicians could order virtual visits for their patients, pharmacies could deliver essential medicine right at the doorstep with a simple online order and apps allowed remote monitoring of patients at their homes. Not only did all of this allow patients much more comfort, but it also allowed physicians and pharmacies to deal with the gigantic overload of patients that were streaming in from all around the world.
Telemedicine has also allowed patients to be able to manage their own illnesses upto a certain extent. The outpouring of these advancements has not only made healthcare a lot more convenient, it has brought out quality communication between patients and their medical professionals as well.
Improved Diagnostic and Treatment Applications
Through the two basic models of machine learning and deep learning with the neural networks, AI has become an important diagnostic tool. With widespread neural networking, diseases like liver cirrhosis, skin disease, heart diseases etc are being diagnosed early. This allows decreased morbidity and mortality among the susceptible population. Diagnoses which were at first time consuming and only evident after catastrophic disease progression, are now available much sooner.
AI also significantly reduces room for error. Where tired physicians can make mistakes due to various stress factors, AI is fatigue-free. A major drawback, however, is the decrease in human to human interaction which may cause some symptoms detectable only through experience go unnoticed. With a continuous improvement in technology, AI is coming up with new advancements with every passing day. It might not be long when it overcomes its cons to a significant extent.
Robotic doctors: a close future reality?
Robotics has slowly been taking over various labor intensive industries, and healthcare is no less. Currently, telesurgery is in the works. Telesurgery allows qualified and skilled surgeons to conduct a surgery through a computer programme sitting miles away, reducing the financial and physical burdens on the patient and their family.
A dire consequence of this may be a botched surgery which the surgeon themselves cannot immediately fix. However, the additional presence of a skilled team alongside the patient allows minimizing this risk as well.
Through the adaptation of telesurgery, specialists can be made available to people sitting in remote areas, reducing the burden of travel costs and hazards that the patient would otherwise bear. Hoping that this will also decrease the operative errors substantially, leading robotics professionals all over the world are keen on a future where robots replace surgeons wholly.
In the fast paced developments of the AI and robotic engineering world, robot doctors seem to be a very real possibility, but can they truly replace humans altogether? We might not have to wait too long to find out. Although the current research suggests that technology will only replace humans in monotonous tasks creating even more jobs, an actual answer is far from simple.