AI may help relieve doctor fatigue

Much of the doctors’ fatigue is driven by administrative tasks, but technologyespecially artificial intelligence, may ease this burden.

At least, that’s a vision Kathryn StrampsPresident and CEO of the medical technology company GE Healthcare, United States and Canada.

Healio has previously covered research showing the potential benefits of new technology in the healthcare environment, and which may help. Surgeons improve their skillsprimary care physicians, Screen for eating disorders even Cognitive behavioral therapy assistance.

“Today’s healthcare workforce is extremely valuable and fragile, threatened by burnout, job turnover, and medical vacancies,” Stramps told Healio. “There is an urgent need to use AI to drive efficiencies and provide insights that ease data-heavy and workloads on clinicians.”

In this Q&A, Estrampes spoke with Healio about what kind of technology is available, how clinicians can use it to relieve stress, and more.

Helio: Can you discuss the impact of burnout on doctors and hospital systems?

estrums: The past two years have been a huge challenge for the world’s healthcare workforce. COVID-19 has exacerbated the emotional, physical, and mental stress on the population already reporting fatigue, and this trend has accelerated dramatically among physicians in the US: Up to 63% of physicians surveyed reported at least one symptom of fatigue at the end In 2021, compared to 44% in 2017. As burnout rates increase, turnover also increases, and this has become one of the most critical issues in healthcare. Since 2020, between 20% to 30% of health care workers in the United States have left the industry. For the first time in 17 years, staff shortages have become the top concern of hospital executives, and hospital systems are looking for ways to reduce the burden on healthcare workers while making the most of existing resources and staff.

Helio: How technology can ease the stress of burnoutAnd the Especially with regard to the administrative tasks performed by the doctors and they said is it common?

estrums: Many clinicians blame an abundance of tasks, such as liaising, coordinating, and following up with patients about their appointments and health issues, as the main cause of their stress and fatigue. Those problems have been exacerbated by the pandemic, as doctors struggle with an influx of patients with COVID-19, and the condition of patients who have postponed routine visits for months has worsened. Physicians have reported that they spend more time with IT systems – for example, electronic medical records – than they do with patients. How can we fix this? Make the data work for them, rather than for the data. Automation, artificial intelligence, and other digital technologies can automate administrative tasks and help aggregate data to make it more useful for clinicians so they can spend less time in front of a computer and more time with their patients. However, these tools are only useful if you do not create additional steps for the doctor. The most effective AI is invisible, integrated, and built into existing clinical workflows so that the technology works for you, not the other way around.

Helio: You’ve been working on implementing new digital tools to reduce stress. What kind of technology have you worked with? How do service providers help?

estrums: At GE Healthcare, we work closely with healthcare providers to unlock the potential of AI to free up caregivers time and mental energy to focus on more important tasks. One of the solutions we’ve seen successfully implemented is our Command Center, which connects, integrates and analyzes data at the department or across the healthcare system to help improve hospital patient flow and efficiency. Health systems and hospitals have deployed Command Center to integrate intelligence into existing workflows, helping them improve outcomes through proactive capacity management and improving the patient journey.

Helio: How have you seen providers use technology to reduce burnout?

estrums: A hospital that has effectively used command center technology to reduce fatigue at Tampa General Hospital (TGH) in Florida. TGH reduced system-wide inefficiencies with a set of real-time “boxes” that scan data to help providers identify bottlenecks, risks and barriers to resources, patients, and staff. These timely insights and alerts indicate available actions that hospital staff can take to prevent delays in a patient’s journey. The advanced technology absorbs dozens of messages every second from different source systems, integrates this into a longitudinal data model, applies artificial intelligence, and delivers new insights to users every 30 seconds, but most importantly is the time it saves frontline doctors during their daily routine. . At TGH, they save 13,500 minutes each day during gatherings that identify patients who can be downgraded (such as from critical to critical) and multidisciplinary team rounds. That’s 82,000 hours for doctors to do more impactful work each year.

Helio: How do you think incorporating technology into primary care practices will benefit them?

estrums: Unleashing the potential of AI can free up caregivers time and mental energy to focus on more important tasks. That’s why GE Healthcare works closely with healthcare providers to achieve a digital transformation that prioritizes workforce stability, productivity, outcomes, and well-being, working to develop solutions that help save caregiver precious time, leading to a cascade of benefits for patients, providers and hospital system.

Helio: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

estrums: At GE Healthcare, we recognize the growing need to ensure the digital transformation of every healthcare provider accounts for the true value of data and makes full use of it—its power to improve the caregiving journey not only for patients, but for caregivers as well.

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