Dr Kieran Zucker
Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Clinical Oncology Specialist Registrar
Training and collaboration are needed to ensure healthcare professionals are equipped to keep up with innovations in artificial intelligence (AI).
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented demands on health services with widespread alterations to the way healthcare was delivered, creating backlogs at never before seen levels.
Limited AI understanding
However, the pandemic has also driven rapid digital transformation within the NHS and the use of digital tools and AI are increasingly being proposed as potential solutions to pressures.
Despite the promise of AI, academic progress is rarely translated into real world services. There are reasons why this may be the case, but at the heart of many is the fundamental reality that AI knowledge amongst clinical professionals is often limited. It is nonsensical to expect healthcare staff to evaluate, commission and trust technology that they do not understand.
AI needs integrating into training for all healthcare professionals, just as clinical trial training already has been.
Providing support and training
Although some healthcare professionals will need advanced AI training, the workforce as a whole needs to understand the key underlying concepts – AI literacy as opposed to AI expertise. AI needs integrating into training for all healthcare professionals, just as clinical trial training already has been. To date, healthcare AI training has remained the purview of a motivated and interested minority, with schemes lacking scalability.
Investment is critical
If the UK is to equip its health and care workforce with the skills to meet the demands of the rapidly evolving world of AI in medicine, it will require investment, prioritisation and expertise from the Government, professional regulators, professional bodies and AI experts to develop and scale training materials for healthcare workers. Failure to do so is not a simple workforce issue, but one of failing to deliver the best care to patients.