Will AI Become a Crucial Part of Healthcare Post COVID-19?

We can be sure of when it comes to coronavirus because nobody was ready for it. From the most developed countries to the ones with the biggest population and everything in between, hardly anyone reacted adequately. This caused COVID-19 to spread like wildfire, and some countries received devastating blows. Now that we are nearing the end of this gruesome event, a question arises—what have we learned from it? How will healthcare be impacted? Are things going to change, and in which way? Undoubtedly, we have learned a lot about how to protect the elderly and what are the ways to help a struggling economy. But our learning curve is still at its low point since there’s so much more that we need to understand so that we don’t go through the same ordeal in the future. Technology, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), will play a big part.

Technology Isn’t an Innovative Solution When It Comes to Healthcare.

Still, it’s most certainly underused. The rapid growth of technology has allowed for so many new inventions, innovations, methodologies, and processes to swamp our everyday life that it’s shocking we aren’t taking advantage of it in the medical industry. Every time social media platforms release a new feature, everyone’s talking about it. Every new Snapchat filter or a Tick Tock trend gets an insane amount of media coverage.

On the other hand, technology trends in medicine are not getting the attention they deserve. That’s mostly because people avoid talking about health, diseases, and medicine. Unless, of course, it’s something that impacts them personally. Discussing some serious concerns seems like jinxing your luck, and superstition takes over in a way. Once they experience it first-hand, most new patients are amazed by the progress made every day—and AI plays a huge role in advancing the entire industry.

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COVID-19 Made Us More Involved in the Healthcare Industry

All of the superstitions flew out of the window when the coronavirus broke out since it leveled the playing field—we were all impacted, and it wasn’t somebody else’s problem anymore. People demanded to know more about what was going on and how they could keep themselves and their loved ones safe. Once the healthcare systems across the planet started collapsing, even the most passive ones realized something had to be done. Being invested, interested, and asking questions was certainly the first step.

If we look closely at everything that went wrong, it’s easy to understand that AI can help prevent the same scenario from happening again.

Can AI Help Healthcare Reach New Heights

Everything that happened since the pandemic started became an uncharted territory that caused a lot of insecurities. This certainly wasn’t the first global pandemic, but it might go down in history as the most influential one. So, what’s the connection between AI and the healthcare industry?

Well, paradoxically, the answer is in the connections. In addition to using technology to improve healthcare, implementing new systems and devices, AI can be a part of a more well-connected system that communicates both ways. One example is the use of big data. Not only can AI gather it, but it can also use it to make predictions, connect the dots, and create solutions for the outcome no one can even see coming.

Implementing artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry means making fact-based, informed, and strategic decisions. That was crucial when the pandemic broke out, which was why most healthcare professionals relied on guesswork.

In addition to this huge benefit, AI can help workers in the medical industry by performing routine tasks and allowing them to have more time for activities that bring value and change. It can enable them to have the necessary data in real-time and react accordingly without questioning their moves and decisions because of the lack of resources.

It isn’t surprising that people are skeptical about mixing their private medical records and a technology that has been designed to think. AI will certainly be developing for years to come, and it’s foolish to say that it won’t cause a single problem for any user. Still, its implementation is an improvement of a system that’s in desperate need of one.