DOCTORS IN UAE ALREADY HARNESSING POWER OF AI TO IMPROVE PATIENT CARE
▶ Bots can help to plan and analyse – but don’t ask anything too technical, writes Nick Webster
From holographic surgical planning for complex procedures to predictive tools to keep patients out of hospital, artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in health care.
Robots may never replicate the human touch or the bedside manner required in the care profession, but the technology is helping medical staff use their time more efficiently.
AI algorithms can analyse data to identify population health patterns and offer insights to improve patient care and outcomes. Meanwhile, mobile apps ease the appointment process, allowing patients to access reports, and help healthcare providers to manage their conditions.
As AI and data analytics play a bigger role than, digitalisation has the potential to transform care, experts said.
“Digitalisation has changed the face of the healthcare industry,” said Naser Al Riyami, chief operating officer at Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi.
“It has improved access to care, enhanced patient engagement, enabled personalised medicine and driven overall efficiency in healthcare delivery.
“AI and data analytics play a bigger role than ever in health care today.”
Burjeel Medical City has been using holographic technology to improve surgical planning since 2021.
Holographic surgery is a US FDA-approved system used to create three-dimensional images of a patient’s organs.
It gives surgeons greater insight into a patient before an operation, allowing them an opportunity to familiarise themselves with anatomy.
As part of its radiation oncology programme, the hospital also uses the ExacTrac dynamic patient positioning and monitoring system created by German tech firm Brainlab, which combines surface, thermal and X-ray tracking technology to achieve pinpoint accuracy during treatment.
“AI algorithms can help us identify patients at risk of developing certain conditions, allowing for earlier intervention and treatment,” said Mr Al Riyami. “In personalised medicine, AI algorithms can also identify patterns that can help healthcare providers customise treatments.”
Despite progressive steps, limitations have been found.
In radiology, researchers at Hospital Cochin in Paris found the ChatGPT interface gave incomplete or inaccurate answers to questions posed by interventional radiologists.
When asked for the treatment for bleeding after a Whipple procedure – a major operation to remove part of the pancreas in cancer patients – the same procedure was reported three times, but with three different descriptions by the AI software.
Researchers concluded that ChatGPT and similar models were capable of generating coherent, grammatically correct text, but were unable to respond accurately to more specific and technical medical questions. The findings were published in the Canadian Association of Radiologists
Journal on April 20. Elsewhere in the UAE, Prime Hospital is adopting AI to help manage patient flow.
It uses an AI healthcare technology platform called Heaps to track deviations in a patient’s care to ensure the right interventions are made.
The system allows health professionals to monitor patients with chronic conditions and predict what could go wrong with their future care, so a more proactive approach is taken to keep them out of hospital.
“The primary objective is to reduce the rate of avoidable hospitalisation and repeat hospitalisation,” said Mohammed Hamid, the regional head for Heaps.ai in the GCC and Mena markets.
“Traditional care co-ordination models are labour intensive and often build on manual processes.
“AI models provide a lowcost, high effectiveness solution which allows organisations to expand their services and coverage elsewhere,” said Mr Hamid.