Almost half of clinicians around the world, 48%, believe it’s a good thing for AI to help direct care pathways. The broad buy-in is striking since, in the present year, only 11% of clinical decisions are assisted by AI tools.

The findings are from Elsevier Health’s latest “Clinician of the Future” survey and report. For 2023, the academic publishing company conducted online fieldwork this past spring and received completed surveys from more than 2,600 physicians and nurses.

Survey questions were designed to help forecast the future of healthcare delivery as projected by the clinicians who are generally closest to frontline patient care. Responses came in from 116 countries, led in headcounts by China (418 respondents), the U.S. (365), the U.K. (272) Spain (189), Germany (181) and India (158). The survey report covers several aspects of future care. Here are five select findings from a chapter dedicated to AI and related technologies.

1. Clinicians are open to the possibilities of evolving technologies and willing to embrace them to improve patient care.

Overall, clinicians see it as a positive to be experts in the use of digital health technology (73% for physicians to be experts and 71% for nurses)—a recognition of the accelerating developments in this area.

2. Most clinicians (68%) approve of making clinical decisions based, at least in part, on patient-collected health data.

In North America, some 71% find the practice desirable and only 11% undesirable. Nurses in the U.S. (74%) and doctors in China (75%) are the most likely subgroups to find this desirable, while nurses in China (48%) are significantly less enthusiastic.

3. The world is already seeing differences in how clinicians use generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard.

Worldwide use of these tools to help guide clinical decisions is significantly higher among nurses (16% of their decisions) than doctors (7% of their decisions).

4. Use of generative AI to guide clinical decisions differs greatly between regions.

The practice is much more common in China and Asia Pacific (19% of clinical decisions in both) than in North America (7%) and Europe (6%). In the Asian Pacific, AI is guiding some 28% of nurses’ decisions.

5. Globally, 51% of clinicians consider the use of AI desirable for training medical students, and 50% like it for training nurses.

In both cases, 28% of clinicians consider it undesirable. For medical student training, opinion is most split in Europe and North America. In both cases, more clinicians find it desirable (41% in Europe and 40% in North America) than undesirable (34% in Europe and 36% in North America).

The 55-page report is posted in full for free.

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

• More than a third of U.S. workers fret over AI’s potential to take their job. The American Psychological Association found this out upon surveying more than 2,500 employed adults. Among those who harbor worries about AI at work, 75% think technology will take over some or all of their duties within the next 10 years. And 46% plan to look for new work before their employer gets a chance to send a pink slip. Survey report here. 
   
• On the other hand, healthcare workers might look to AI as something of a savior. Chris Ciabarra, chief technology officer of Athena Security, tells why in a piece Forbes published Sept. 7. Ciabarra outlines some ways AI can help protect nurses and doctors from violent patients and visitors, keep burnout at bay, hedge against malpractice suits and promote healthy living. He says using technology to improve life for care professionals is a moral imperative. Read the piece.
   
• AI presents pediatric specialists with unique sets of opportunities and challenges. Commentary published Sept. 7 in Contemporary Pediatrics lays out the basics on both. “How comfortable are we allowing generative AI to intervene in direct patient care for children specifically?” writes Matthew Fradkin, MD, a pediatrician, clinical informaticist and digital health consultant practicing in Seattle. “Automated tasks by AI may be tolerated in the adult patient population, but those same uses may not be as safe or worthwhile in the pediatric population.” Read the whole thing.
   
• Out with AI hallucinations, in with AI misinformation. The terminology, not the actual misinformation. Researchers in the psychiatry department at the University of Florida College of Medicine call for the word swap in a peer-reviewed article published Sept. 5 in Cureus. “We believe the term ‘AI misinformation’ to be more appropriate [than ‘AI hallucinations’],” they write, “and avoids contributing to stigmatization.”
   
• Half of employed Americans who are looking for a new job believe AI tools used by recruiters are more biased than humans. The American Staffing Association points out the figure emerges from an online poll just weeks after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released guidance on how to incorporate AI into a job search while still adhering to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The association’s CEO, Richard Wahlquist, warns: “[I]t’s critical that hiring managers work to increase transparency and accountability in their hiring processes and use tools that meet current and emerging antibias standards.” News release.
   
• Handheld ultrasound maker Clarius has been named a Frost & Sullivan company of the year for its system using AI to acquire diagnostic-quality images. F&S calls Clarius’s ultraportable, AI-outfitted ultrasound machines “a top choice for budget-conscious medical institutions and health systems that do not want to sacrifice quality for cost.” Announcement.
   
• Just under 50% of Gen Z-ers in middle school, high school or college have used generative AI to get information about something. About 28% have used it to learn something new outside of school. And some 61% have tapped the technology to entertain themselves. Touchstone Research polled 931 students and is presenting key findings in a scrollable infographic.
   
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