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Personalized overview

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 00:04:38 UTC

I am really invested in the well-being of my loved ones and myself so any potential advancements in healthcare would be very significant for me. Based on what I have already learned about AI in this class and even before, it is transforming numerous industries and performing tasks that humans are not capable of completing. If AI could somehow be used to diagnose patients, perform operations, and develop cures or prevent deadly illnesses, it can potentially help people live longer, more high-quality lives. Most notably, I know that AI was used to help develop the Covid-19 vaccine. I am also aware that an entire field is growing related to slowing down the aging process and treating it as a disease. In addition to trying to delay the process some believe that aging could even be reversed to some extent. Aside from the obvious benefits that come to mind, it is worth noting that a lot of the diseases the health care industry seeks to treat and prevent by getting older in the first place, something this field of medicine can significantly delay. This was something that I have been very interested in for years, and there are rapid advancements being made in this field of research. Based on how AI is already being used to help invent vaccines and medications, perhaps it could contribute to this groundbreaking research which could potentially be a monumental event in human history.

Healthcare - AI in Medical Diagnoses

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 02:34:21 UTC

AI is already playing a role in diagnosing medical issues in a multitude of ways. For instance, programs can be used to process patient data and extrapolate potential causes for symptoms, make diagnoses, and propose courses of action to take. This insight can help doctors make diagnoses on their own, especially given that the AI can suggest scans and physical exams that can be utilized to determine the root cause of either symptoms or second-hand co-occurring conditions. AI can also be used to evaluate anatomical images and root out errors from the treatment process and pinpoint major risks from medical decisions or conditions and how they can be thwarted. Even the best doctors are still flawed and are forced to often improvise use their own discretion. They have to quickly determine the safest or most effective treatments plans and even use process of elimination to diagnose patients. For instance in Brisbane, specialists had been struggling to find the primary source of a patient's cancer to determine how to best treat it, but using genetic data and an AI model they developed-, they were able to discover the problem which they otherwise wouldn't have been able to.

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Healthcare- AI in preventing diseases.

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 06:38:50 UTC

Another fascinating and sophisticated AI is being used to treat and prevent medical issues is via prescriptive and predictive models. Patient data including environmental and genetic factors, past medical conditions, etc are used to prepare for diseases they are most susceptible to and run tests, as well as design treatment plans if a patient is already sick. Recently, a sensor system was created to track diabetes and asthma patients usage of insulin pens and inhalers along with monitoring whether they are using the devices properly. Improper administering of these devices and lack of medication adherence leads to countless deaths, healthcare costs, hospitalizations, and often causes patients health to stagnate or regress. In addition to AI models being increasingly deployed to ensure patients are adhering to medication prescriptions, they are also being tasked with finding customized strategies to incentivize patients to remain consistent. Among these strategies were methods as simple as communicating with patients more often and at the right times and properly explaining the risks of skipping doses or wrongly administering them along with the benefits of complying with the doctors orders.

https://youtu.be/JWrZgiKTxms?si=uFQ1tjBHTN-ISk-g

Healthcare- Treating diseases and perfoming operations

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 06:41:50 UTC

AI played a crucial role in developing a vaccine that is estimated to have saved 15- 20 million people during the Coronavirus Pandemic. AI was used to produce MRNA exponentially faster to be used for experimentation along with the help of automated robots. AI algorithms were also used to optimize MRNA for the production vital proteins. Recently, AI systems have been developed to monitor surgeries and provide insight or instructions to guide the physician through the surgical operation based on the patient's specific needs. They could potentially even point out previously unnoticed pathologies such as tumors, blood clots, or polyps which can cause deleterious outcomes for the patient if not addressed properly during the surgery or potentially be dealt with at a later time. New breakthroughs are even being made in treating cancer where cutting edge AI is being used to discover immunotherapy techniques to force the immune system into fighting malignant tumors.

Societal impact

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 06:43:09 UTC

If implemented in healthcare worldwide, AI can potentially save people billions of dollars and in the long-term possibly trillions. This can be achieved preventing, properly diagnosing, and curing diseases which will minimize the severity and frequency of various conditions. This will significantly reduce the need medication, surgery, and other treatments such as physical therapy. When needed these remedies may be less time-consuming and intensive. I can imagine as AI is integrated into surgical procedures and the diagnostic processes, there will be more lawsuits for medical malpractice. Especially if they are misused or have some sort of glitch which costs patients their lives or exacerbates conditions and symptoms. Questions regarding data privacy may arise as patients' medical history, genetics, and elements from their upbringing and environment are processed by systems for treatments and predictive analysis. Jobs requiring completing paperwork and maximizing administrative efficiency will likely be replaced to some extent. Lastly, an issue that may arise is if AI significantly extends the average human lifespan or even allows us to age at a slower rate there could be concerns that it will cause overpopulation and even potentially amplify the global warming crisis by relying more on fossil fuels to sustain this new world. In addition, it will make it more difficult to transition to renewable energy and could cause a situation where caring for an increasingly elderly population as a demographic percentage of the population becomes a burden on the economy.

Reflection

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 06:44:46 UTC

First, I focused on forming a concise analysis of this topic by choosing the 3 most important ways AI is being used in healthcare. I found an article that provided a general outline with numerous ways AI is effecting the medical field and then searched for sources to see which elements of healthcare have been the most impacted. I searched for 2 articles and a video about each aspect of healthcare that is changing and I made sure they all had different examples of recent innovation and projections for the future implementation of AI in terms of addressing specific challenges.

References

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-05 07:54:46 UTC

Admin. “Ai and Preventive Care: What You Need to Know.” Caregility, 28 June 2024, caregility.com/blog/ai-preventative-care-what-you-need-to-know/.

This article provides some information about how AI is being used to help prevent diseases.

“Ai Healthcare Benefits.” IBM, 13 May 2024, www.ibm.com/think/insights/ai-healthcare-benefits. This article served as an outline with various ways AI is being incorporated into health care and it helped me hone in a few topics to focus on.

“AI Is Poised to ‘Revolutionize’ Surgery.” ACS, www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and-articles/bulletin/2023/june-2023-volume-108-issue-6/ai-is-poised-to-revolutionize-surgery/. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024. This publication explores the role that AI can play in optimizing surgical outcomes going forward such as being a virtual assistant and guide during operations.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare & Medical Field.” ForeSee Medical, www.foreseemed.com/artificial-intelligence-in-healthcare. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024. This article gave some insight on the potential future role of AI in healthcare that I could reflect on.

“Artificial Intelligence in Diagnosing Medical Conditions and Impact on Healthcare.” MGMA, www.mgma.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-in-diagnosing-medical-conditions-and-impact-on-healthcare. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024. This article discusses how AI is used to recommend tests and evaluate imaging and data to help doctors diagnose patients

“How Ai Is Improving Diagnostics, Decision-Making and Care: AHA.” American Hospital Association, www.aha.org/aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-05-09-how-ai-improving-diagnostics-decision-making-and-care. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024. This is another article about how AI is being integrated into the diagnostic process for physicians and helping them take the right course of action based on potential diagnoses in case there isn't a clear cause of a patients' health issues.

“How Ai Played an Instrumental Role in Making Mrna Vaccines.” Big Think, 1 Nov. 2023, bigthink.com/health/ai-mrna-vaccines-moderna/. This article gave a significant example of how AI can indirectly prevent diseases and save lives by creating cures and in this case vaccines.

Future Trends and Ethical Implications

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-06 02:14:44 UTC

Building off of some of the examples I mentioned for the current role of AI in healthcare, the future is looking potentially even more promising. The future is uncertain, but aside from the current role robotic devices can play in assisting surgical operations or performing minimally-invasive procedures, it is theoretically possible that AI can be programmed to complete any surgical operation in the distant future. This could ensure optimal outcomes given that even the best surgeons are susceptible to missing small details, having shaky hands, or not being able to complete certain advanced procedures that only elite specialists can perform. While this is believed to be unlikely, given how far we have already come with AI and autonomous robots like Roombas or self-driving cars, it is not out of the realm of possibility. Even if the technology were to progress to such a point that an algorithm is developed to be able to respond to any situation and perform surgery there are serious ethnical and philosophical questions that come to mind. For instance, one must consider whether it is acceptable to put the lives of patients into the hands of robots, or whether it is justifiable given that they can be less error-prone than humans. I believe it is a potential concern that doctors may become overly-reliant on AI- especially if they begin incorporating it into the medical school curriculum and resident training process which will leave them ill-prepared to handle complex situations. Due to the increasing role of AI in inventing vaccines and medications, humans may progressively become less innovative which could be problematic considering how much successful research has been conducted by humans with no virtual assistance. New treatments for various diseases such as cancers, diabetes, and Alzheimers were rapidly making progress and ideally this process would not be impeded.

video 1

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-06 05:43:35 UTC

I am adding a second video because there is a recording time limit.

Video 2

nathanielkoyfman — 2024-08-06 05:46:51 UTC