Several strides have been made in the field of artificial intelligence in the last decade, providing new opportunities for surgeons.
AI in the workplace aids gastroenterologists in several ways, but chief among them are administrative help and patient pre-screenings. Five GIs shared with Becker’s the ways that they are currently employing AI, and how they plan to do so in the near future.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Are you currently using AI in the workplace? If so, how?
Omar Khokhar, MD. Gastroenterologist and Partner at Illinois Gastro Health (Bloomington): Artificial intelligence has become part of our practice. We’ve deployed an AI visual interface during colonoscopy which can help detect precancerous lesions. Coming soon, we’ll use AI dictation for clinic visits and hope to use AI to scour our incoming queue to flag “high-risk” referrals to bring them to the top of the list for scheduling purposes.
Linda Lee, MD. Medical Director of Endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Faulkner Hospital (Boston): Our hospital recently introduced an AI program to assist with writing clinic notes which has received tremendous positive feedback. The program listens to the conversation between the provider and patient and generates a full clinic note based on this.
Benjamin Levy, MD. Gastroenterologist and Clinical Associate of Medicine at University of Chicago Medicine: Clinics nationally are starting to adopt dictation software that uses artificial intelligence to write notes while we talk with patients. Afterward, the gastroenterologist can edit the note. I’ve been super impressed with the quality and speed at which the notes are generated. From my experience, the AI is able to accurately capture dates, medications, and dosages that are said very fast in passing, which allows physicians the opportunity to focus on listening, develop a work-up plan, and place orders while the note is being written in a well-organized manner. It can even write an “after-visit summary” with succinct instructions on next steps and recommendations.
Patients like the dictation software because they can have the undivided attention of their physician — the doctor no longer needs to sit in front of the computer typing away. Another huge advantage is that the dictation software prevents physicians from typing 8 hours a day in the clinic. We can save our hands for endoscopy and hopefully prevent repetitive stress injuries from typing too much.
Monina Pascua, MD, PharmD. Clinic Medical Director and Gastroenterologist at The Oregon Clinic (Portland): We are using AI for our direct access colonoscopy program. We have partnered with Insight Health to administer a health questionnaire and intake form which asks pertinent questions prior to their colonoscopy to obtain their medical information, triage them if they need an office visit or proceed directly to schedule a colonoscopy.
Pankaj Vashi, MD. Gastroenterologist at City of Hope (Chicago): I have been using two AI-based endoscopy software. WATS3D is for identifying dysplasia in Barrett’s esophagus and GI Genius is used in colonoscopies to identify polyps. Both have been very useful tools.
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