Digital education - A necessary step to utilize the full advantage of AI in healthcare

Photo: Nick Morrison

Artificial Intelligence is an invaluable advantage when deployed in healthcare. However, to get its full benefits, proper implementation is needed. Digital education is crucial and therefore health centers need to promote programs and teachings regarding the fundamental understanding of AI machine learning and neural networks, as well as interaction between humans and machines in clinical environments.

Emphasizing the importance of teaching digital competencies

To enhance traditional healthcare education and expand it to accommodate the ever-changing landscape of the world of health, electronic health literacy is fundamental and should be emphasized. In addition to this, understanding the legal and ethical aspects of digital health care is a major concept to be added to the overall digital education in health. This is because there is always a question of data privacy and security. Making sure that these data are used ethically and responsibly is a must.

At its core, digital education is there to help not only patients but medical professionals, in particular, to develop technological literacy and familiarize themselves with key concepts and notions of AI and digitalization in healthcare. This kind of education would also enable a closer understanding of AI and its principles, algorithms, and applications in healthcare settings.

While AI as a concept might not seem so strange in today's world of digitalization, in the world of healthcare, understanding the actual fundamentals of AI is needed for its proper usage. If a health center wishes to utilize a natural language processing AI with machine learning capabilities to its fullest, then all of the medical professionals operating around it need to actively participate in discussions, decision-making processes, and collaborations involving AI in healthcare. Of course, a special team of trained professionals is always going to be at the forefront of any kind of implementation of AI in healthcare, but the medical professionals working with it need to be up to date with its mechanics, usage, potential, and advantages it offers.

Enhancing clinical decision-making, data quality and security

Digital education in the world of health would encompass the skills needed to integrate AI-powered decision support tools into clinical workflows effectively. Some of the main benefits of understanding how AI algorithms analyze and track data can help medical professionals improve diagnostic accuracy, optimize patients' treatment plans, and enhance clinical decision-making. Because there are different practices of data collection through AI, having this field of study incorporated into overall digital education will help medical professionals better understand the reliability and integrity of data used in AI models.

Creating a better education program - Incorporating AI and digital education into traditional education

It is safe to say that digitalization is expanding fully into the healthcare industry. Various digital tools, wearables, apps, and finally, AI, are all allowing for an easier and more accessible means of communication for patients. However, integrating new competencies such as digital education into the existing program components is necessary to allow for a seamless and effective familiarization of medical professionals and patients with AI and other digital tools.