An expert in applied artificial intelligence (AI) in health care is noting how algorithms are being used to benefit the sector and why organizations should start cautiously embracing innovative tools.
Dr. Muhammad Mamdani, vice president of data science and advanced analytics at Unity Health Toronto and director of T-CAIREN at the University of Toronto, was the keynote speaker during Bluewater Health’s annual meeting.
Mamdani said while AI is not new, significant enhancements have been made over the past eight years or so.
While each program differs, Mamdani said some of the benefits of AI include: relieving some of the cognitive load clinicians have, listing which patients are more at risk of hypoglycemic events, and helping with the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of patients.
"There's a group out at Princess Margaret Hospital, where for prostate cancer patients, you develop radiation treatment plans, and radiation treatment plans are hard, you have to be pretty precise. So it often takes clinical teams hours, if not days, to come up with a good radiation treatment plan for a patient," Mamdani said. "They've created an AI algorithm that'll do it in less than two minutes and will have an 88 per cent success rate in terms of matching what expert clinicians would do."
When it comes to patient interactions, not all physicians have a great bedside manner. Mamdani referenced a study where ChatGPT was rated three to five times higher than physicians, noting it was more empathetic.
"Why? Because physicians are busy. They're going to give you one-word answers, one-sentence answers. ChatGPT has all the time in the world," he said.
Mamdani also referenced the administrative benefits to AI.
He said a data model can optimize nurse staffing by predicting where the absences will be, how many and the types of nurses needed using AI.
"We've deployed it in two hospitals, [St. Joseph's Health Centre and St. Michael's Hospital] with an estimated annual cost reduction of about $1 million with respect to reduced overtime and agency costs," he said.
Despite the advantages, Mamdani said it's important to err on the side of caution as algorithms aren't perfect.
"The communication we have with our clinical teams is that when the AI says there's a problem and you don't think so, don't believe yourself, believe the AI. But if you think there's a problem and the AI says 'no, there isn't,' don't believe the AI, believe yourself. Always err on the side of caution, I think that's why we're seeing the benefits that we see."
Mamdani also noted how ChatGPT is programmed to always give an answer and those answers aren't always correct and how in some cases, chatbots can do more harm than good.
He said organizations need to determine where they stand with AI, whether they're leaders or followers -- which is more cost effective.
"It all boils down to what you value as an organization," he said. "I would encourage you to really think about this field, it's not going away. I think we're going to see more and more of these things, whether you like it or not, and you're going to have to decide how you want to embrace it... or maybe not so much compared to other organizations."
While not all hospital organizations can afford to spend millions of dollars each year on AI innovations, Mamdani encouraged the hospital board to look at its inefficiencies.
As AI is being introduced into the health care sector, it's also being incorporated into the curriculum.
Mamdani said the University of Toronto has been offering optional courses in programming and AI for about two years.
"It is going to be mandated soon so University of Toronto medical students will not have a choice, it will be in the curriculum," he said. "That's what we're seeing worldwide as well."
Mamdani said Ontario Health has started putting resources toward AI, but Canada as a whole is lagging when it comes to AI literacy.
"I know we're working on it but I just worry that others are going to run laps around us," he said.
As noted during the meeting, Bluewater Health is sensitive to the topic after experiencing a cyberattack in 2023.
As a result, a $37 million hospital information system was launched.
"Certainly it was a tipping point but we really embraced that opportunity and went full scale on what was recognized as one of the fastest conversions to a health information system that a hospital has done within 10 months and under budget, and that was no small feat," said President and CEO Paula Reaume-Zimmer.
Between the cyberattack and the COVID-19 pandemic, Reaume-Zimmer said the hospital organization has been in crisis mode for a very long time.
"We're all very excited about what's ahead of us," she said.
During the annual meeting, Chief of Staff Dr. Michel Haddad referenced the recently hired and incoming staff at Bluewater Health.
Bluewater Health Foundation Executive Director Kathy Alexander also highlighted that just under $5 million was dispersed to Bluewater Health this year to support capital priorities and projects.
The 2024-2025 annual report can be found on the hospital's website.