How is AI Helping to Manage the Covid Healthcare Crisis?
Covid-19 has created a lot of new challenges for us, and more specifically for the healthcare industry as they work tirelessly to not only fight but beat this virus once and for all. Experts are drawing on every tool they have to find new ways to not only protect people against the virus, but understand how it works, and prevent the spread while we roll out the vaccine programme. And one of those tools is Artificial Intelligence, or AI.
The Role of AI In Covid-19
Before the world at large was even aware of Covid-19 and the threat it posed, AI systems had already detected the outbreak of an unknown type of pneumonia in China. Sophisticated tools detected a pattern of symptoms, transmissions and hospital admissions, and this data is still being referenced as part of the Covid response. Now that we have been able to gather more data from research studies and learn more about the virus, we can see just how much AI has impacted the management of the Covid crisis.
AI is currently playing a key role in almost every aspect of our knowledge and response to the Covid-19 crisis. AI is helping us to:
- Understand the virus, its development and transmission patterns.
- Accelerate medical research on drugs and treatments.
- Detect transmission chains.
- Predict virus evolution.
- Assist in preventing or slowing the virus’ spread, through contact tracing.
- Use personalised information to respond effectively.
- Monitor recovery rates.
- Improve early warning tools.
- Access rapid diagnosis systems.
- Fight misinformation.
Across the board, AI is supporting healthcare workers in their understanding and treatment of the virus. Conversational and interactive AI systems are helping us to respond to the crisis through personalised information, advice and treatment, and learning. In the future, AI tools can help monitor the economic impact and support recovery from the wider impact of Covid-19.
The Future of AI in Healthcare
What does this all mean for the future? With the advances made in AI thanks to the Covid crisis, healthcare centres will be better equipped to not only handle viruses more effectively in the future but they will have the tools to detect them much quicker. It will also allow them to model various response strategies to viruses, and see what actions they could take to most effectively tackle any future outbreaks.
It’s also opened up conversations about using AI more effectively in general healthcare. Whether that’s in patient risk identification, primary care and triage, radiology analysis or even drug discovery programmes, AI has proven its effectiveness in supporting healthcare and providing more positive outcomes. A lot of the best opportunities for AI in healthcare in the near future are hybrid models, where AI is used to support clinicians in diagnosis, treatment planning and identifying risk factors.
At Orbital Media, we do a lot of work in the healthcare sector, from VR pharmacies and AR training simulations to the gamification of at-home healthcare and pain relief treatments. If you would like to know more, just get in touch with the team today.
Sources:
https://orbitalmedia.com/blog/ai-healthcare-the-what-and-how/
