Key Takeaways
- The Nature survey stated that ChatGPT will benefit research and assist in boring or repetitive tasks. This includes debugging codes, crunching numbers, and analyzing large data sets.
- ChatGPT, a generative AI, can access terabytes of data in less than seconds to predict medical conditions. Thus, making it quicker and easier for healthcare providers to predict medical conditions.
- With ChatGPT, healthcare providers and front-desk staff can save time spent on non-clinical tasks, and focus on essential work at hand. Physicians can streamline documentation procedures, and generate medical charts, and discharge instructions.
ChatGPT, a newly launched generative AI by OpenAI took the world by storm in the first five days of its launch. ChatGPT has become a global phenomenon, with over 1 million sign-ups to try the chatbot post-launch. Thus, making it one of the fastest-growing software of this generation.
Unlike other notable chatbots such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa, which are used to interact with the physical world and perform an action, ChatGPT helps to speed up office work. With its advanced content creation features such as essays, poetry, and fiction, this AI technology is picking up pace.
Chatbots are proactively used in the healthcare sector, however how can ChatGPT transform the future of healthcare? Let’s dive in.
1. ChatGPT for Clinical Research and Idea Generation
According to a survey by Nature, 27 percent of the respondents used ChatGPT to brainstorm research ideas, and 24 percent used it to write codes. The Nature survey stated that ChatGPT will benefit research and assist in boring or repetitive tasks. This includes debugging code, crunching numbers, and analyzing large data sets.
There is significant evidence that AI is used for clinical research. Machine learning, a branch of AI, streamlines the process of drug-target identification and candidate molecule generation. AI in healthcare increases predictive modeling of protein structures and drug-target interactions. Further, AI in healthcare contributes to data collection, management, and analysis.
Patient-generated healthcare data via wearables and other electronic gadgets have replaced study visits. However, wearables may enable the need for biomarkers, and digital biomarkers require ML processing to derive insights.
With the innovation of ChatGPT, AI in healthcare can be boosted to another level. Its ability to answer queries, and write lengthy manuscripts, along with problem-solving skills will far exceed current expectations of clinical research.
However, respondents displayed concerns about the reliability of tools and their misuse. In a given scenario, one of the respondents said that ChatGPT created a fictitious literature list and none of the publications existed, which is misleading.
2. ChatGPT Facilitating Translation in Healthcare
Patients find it difficult to understand the medical jargon, and this can hamper communication between patients and doctors. Hence, to improve interactions, ChatGPT AI technology can be used in healthcare.
This tool can facilitate translations for patients with LEP (Limited English Proficiency). It can translate medical terms into their language. It can also benefit researchers with poor language skills to write papers.
3. Streamline Admin Task with ChatGPT
On average physicians end up spending at least 10 hours on paperwork and other administrative tasks. Heavy administrative work results in less time spent with patients and high burnout rates. However, with ChatGPT, healthcare providers and front-desk staff can save time spent on non-clinical tasks, and focus on essential work at hand.
Physicians can streamline the documentation procedures, and generate medical charts, also discharge instructions. For example, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston tested ChatGPT by asking for a chart for a fictional patient suffering from a cough. The system responded with a template, which was fairly good.
However, the pitfall of this is the generation of false or inaccurate information. The physician found an error when ChatGPT stated that costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage that joins the ribs) can be caused by oral contraceptive pills, and produced a fake research paper to support this.
The risk of giving misinformation is high for patients who may use ChatGPT AI to find answers to their symptoms. Apart from this, admin staff can use ChatGPT to produce write-ups for reports instantly, thus easing up their burden.
4. Seamless Medical Record Keeping with ChatGPT
With the help of ChatGPT, providers and front-desk staff can easily generate summaries of patient medical history and diagnosis procedures. This helps in streamlining the medical record-keeping process.
Furthermore, ChatGPT allows physicians and nurses to dictate notes, and the generative AI tool can automatically summarize details such as treatment plans, diagnoses, and symptoms.
5. Provide Virtual Assistance to Patients
Chatbots in healthcare are known to assist patients in answering their medical queries. Likewise, ChatGPT-driven telemedicine, RPM, and digital health tools can offer essential virtual assistance. It can provide patients with information related to their health, answer questions, and assist in scheduling appointments.
ChatGPT in healthcare can remind patients of their medications, upcoming appointments, and information about the side effects of their medicines.
Additionally, it may assist in follow-up care for patients who are recently discharged from hospitals. Chatbots can interact with them, provide self-care advice, inquire about their recovery, and schedule follow-up appointments.
6. ChatGPT Providing Better Treatment Decisions
Healthcare providers are turning to AI for effective diagnosis procedures and better medical decisions. With the intervention of AI, physicians can improve patient outcomes for those suffering from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. AI algorithms are created to respond faster to data and provide treatment precisely.
Researchers from John Hopkins University used computational models to better understand ventricular arrhythmias. They stated that predictive analytics helps to determine the risk of sudden cardiac death or an outcome of a heart procedure.
The latest innovation in the field of AI, ChatGPT is capable of making decisions on antibiotics prescriptions. According to an article published in the neurosciencenews.com, ChatGPT was presented with eight hypothetical infection scenarios, for which people would normally consult a doctor. ChatGPT was able to understand scenarios and provide answers. It understood the need to prescribe antibiotics for bacterial infections.
ChatGPT AI in healthcare can work miraculously for varied treatments. It can also provide around-the-clock medical support to patients who are diagnosed with chronic conditions or are bedridden.
Additionally, another research carried out by a non-profit organization, Koko (which specializes in behavioral health and mental health research) reported that ChatGPT was able to give basic answers to common mental health issues. However, one must consider whether the bot is capable of filtering out insensitive information for mental health patients.
7. ChatGPT Offering Medical Education
Healthcare providers can access resources and information on ChatGPT for further learning and development. This AI tool acts like a teaching assistant as it can generate quizzes and topics that providers can solve and look into.
ChatGPT in healthcare is also used to create personalized study plans and learning materials for different learning styles, which can be difficult for a teacher to do.
Furthermore, the ChatGPT AI model contributes by generating outlines for data analysis and literature reviews, which are essential aspects of medical research assignments.
It is also capable of creating case studies to help medical students practice their treatment and diagnostic skills. This eventually helps students grow their clinical reasoning skills and prepare them for real-world medical scenarios.
8. Mental Health Support Via ChatGPT
According to an article published by Mashable, a news website, ChatGPT isn’t designed to function as a therapist and it cannot diagnose people. However, ChatGPT possesses knowledge about mental health and can provide answers to questions such as ‘What is cognitive behavioral therapy?’ or ‘Ways to treat childhood OCD.’
This AI model isn’t trained to provide treatment or medication, and it cannot diagnose a particular mental health issue. That is left to the therapist to decide. This model can engage mental health patients in conversations and interact with them about their conditions empathetically.
9. Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) and ChatGPT
RPM is one of the popular ways to manage care and improve patient outcomes with low healthcare costs. Providers can easily check the vitals of their patients in real time and take action in case there’s a slight fluctuation in vital signs. This is especially crucial for cardiovascular or diabetic patients.
ChatGPT AI in healthcare augments the efficiency of RPM. It can be used to monitor patients remotely by scrutinizing data gathered from sensors, wearables, and medical devices. It can also be used to analyze the collected data and alert care providers if patients’ condition worsens. Providers can then intervene and prevent further complications.
10. Providing Drug Information Via ChatGPT
Generative AI tool, ChatGPT can be used to know information about drugs such as its side effects, contraindications, drug-drug interactions, and their components. ChatGPT model provides all the information based on its training and data fed into it. This AI tool can also offer suggestions about proper dosage, medication storage spaces, and drug administration methods.
Furthermore, patients and providers can refer to it to know about alternatives to certain medications. Pharmacists can also make use of it to know about drugs and their usage.
11. ChatGPT-Based Symptom Checker
In a study, the diagnosis accuracy of ChatGPT, online symptom checkers, and physicians was compared. The results are as follows:
- Physicians outperformed online symptom checkers in diagnosis accuracy.
- ChatGPT was better at diagnosis than physicians. It also exceeded the online symptom checker’s triage accuracy.
Based on this study, it’s safe to say that ChatGPT is a dynamic model and can be used as a symptom checker by patients and care providers. The newer generations of ChatGPT are likely to produce more accurate results.
12. Diagnosing Medical Conditions Via ChatGPT
To improve patient care, useful insights must be extracted from clinical data. Computerized clinical decision support (CDS) systems offer a way to improve care quality and translate research findings into real-time interventions. Clinical decision support integrated with AI/ML leverages statistical means of extracting useful information from clinical data.
AI technology allows healthcare providers to predict which patients are likely to develop chronic diseases and alter treatment plans accordingly. ChatGPT in healthcare can access terabytes of data within seconds to predict medical conditions.
OpenAI’s innovation can transform the future of healthcare by asking iterative questions to patients with greater accuracy. Its interactive nature makes it easy to answer care conditions. Providers can then predict ailments with the help of ChatGPT AI.
13. Help in Recruiting Participants for Clinical Trials
Researchers often fail to recruit a diverse population, which can hamper research results. Additionally, recruiting participants for clinical research and collecting data from them is a time-consuming process.
AI tool, ChatGPT can be used to overcome these obstacles. It can contribute towards identifying potential candidates by analyzing patient data as per eligibility requirements for clinical research.
14. Medication Tracking With ChatGPT
It can be challenging for patients who have to intake multiple pills or medicine in a day, to keep a track of it. ChatGPT can help such patients manage their medications, including dosage instructions, reminders, and side effects.
Artificial intelligence is playing a significant role in transforming the future of the healthcare sector. However, the overall learning process is stopped if people rely heavily on AI-driven tools such as ChatGPT for every small or large work. Consider using it as a tool to assist and progress further in your profession, rather than depending highly on it.
In need of assistance with AI in healthcare? Then get in touch with Arkenea, a leading healthcare software development company. We use AI and deep learning to build cutting-edge AI-driven web and mobile applications. Our range of services includes NLP, AI-assisted chatbots, machine learning and AI software development, and much more.