The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in optimizing health services.

Medicine is one of the most outstanding human sciences since it studies diseases and creates strategies to prevent or cure them. The medical ecosystem is then considered one of the most advanced in society. However, many processes are still performed manually due to the required sensitivity in data handling. Management of this type within the hospital network has generated security for many years, as well as various economic, social, administrative, and legal problems, among others, due to human errors. With the current management given to the field, it can be predicted that it will become unsustainable if transformational structural change does not occur.

A current tool that has the power to generate a revolution in medicine in terms of the automation of the health-providing institution and the quality of patient care is artificial intelligence (AI). According to the European Parliament, AI is defined as the ability of a computer program to perform tasks or reasoning processes that we usually associate with intelligence in a human being (1). AI that uses predictive models based on data helps the proper functioning of the health system and optimizes results.

Patient satisfaction is one of the most critical factors evaluated for a health care institution (IPS). Currently, in most IPS, this factor is hardly guaranteed due to the lack of balance in the existing workload among health professionals. AI makes it possible to balance these loads by minimizing waiting time, taking the patient to the appropriate specialist, digitizing medical records, and promoting preventive medicine, among others, so that the patient can have reasonable care. It is essential to highlight that each IPS has different needs, but AI can offer flexibility and adapt to each market to provide a successful result.

In the same way, AI provides tools to automate hospital tasks such as the triage process, bed scheduling, predicting hospital admission patterns, detecting diseases for early intervention, or optimizing investigative processes. This advance leads to the reduction of costs and expenses caused by internal mismanagement in these different processes. So much so that the implementation of new technologies based on AI has become a topic of high interest for decision-makers in the field of health care, governments, investors, and those in charge of innovation from different countries (1).

To conclude, AI is in its first steps of implementation and exploration in the countries' different IPS and health systems. However, due to the benefits of reducing the workload of the health professional, the quality of patient care, the early detection of diseases, and the reduction of hospital costs, it has become a topic of interest that many want to take to their institutions. In the coming years, the arrival of more companies that offer these services is expected to enhance and humanize medical services.

References:

1. Spatharou, A., Hieronimus, S., & Jenkins, J. (2021, 1 julio). Transforming healthcare with AI: The impact on the workforce and organizations. McKinsey & Company. (https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/transforming-healthcare-with-ai)

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