AI provides windows of opportunity in the field of healthcare
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – We know artificial intelligence is changing different aspects of everyday life, but what about in the medical field?
At Allegro Family Clinic, they are using it for operational efficiency.
“Just helping us in our charting and with our patient records for our providers to be able to finish their charts quickly so they can see more patients,” said Amy Bogue, CEO of Dutch Medical.
Along with charting, it helps doctors call in prescriptions.
“It’s so nice to be able to hit a microphone and be able to speak what you need and it translates,” Bogue said. “So, we have a provider that will just talk to the computer and say, ‘call in amoxicillin 300 milligrams’ and does the entire thing, and then (you) hit send.
Doctor Robert Buckley likes how he can use his phone to send prescriptions and help patients even if he is not in the office.
Amy Bogue says when used correctly, AI can reduce the risk of errors, and it is helping other aspects of the medical field as well.
“We hope that helps us with accuracy,” Bogue said. “I know they’re using it for a lot of research and especially in the fields of radiology and then pathology. And so using that computer to quickly pull from its database is able to compare and contrast whether that’s a fracture or a disease very quickly. And so we’re excited to see kind of what this technology does so we can get reports back quicker.”
Dr. Michael Turner says that AI is helping in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and they’ve started using it specifically with 3D and 4D ultrasound to create an 8K image.
“What AI allows us to do is to take that 3-D and 4D imagery and clean up all the blurriness and some of the modeling that those images give you,” Turner said. “It incorporates color and adds eyelashes, and skin features that make the picture, the 3-D and 4D picture, look like an actual photograph that you can take with your phone or a camera. You can see in these babies’ faces that they look like their siblings or their parents. I mean, it’s remarkable.”
Dr. Turner says he could see AI being used as a window into the uterus in the future.
“Right now, it’s neat for patients to see their baby,” Turner said. “But at some point, they’re going to start using it probably for diagnostics and for diagnosing some more difficult conditions, for seeing fetal abnormalities. I mean, already it’s allowing us to see parts of the face and the craniofacial structure that we wouldn’t have been able to see before. So it won’t be long before it becomes not just a fun picture and is helpful for for diagnosing and for prepping patients for potential problems after delivery.”
Bogue says even with all its uses, it still doesn’t take the place of human assessment.
“There’s nobody that can replace listening, touching, feeling, just the practice of medicine,” Bogue said. “But we’re using AI as an assister to help us get that diagnosis quicker.”
With all the advancements already with AI, Allegro is excited to see more in the future.
The 8k images are offered to patients between 28-34 weeks. For current patients with a regularly scheduled ultrasound, the cost is $40. For a special ultrasound appointment to get the images, it will be $150.
