Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used more in healthcare in the United States, especially in fields like skin cancer screening, surgical robots, and mental health support. As these tools become more common, medical managers and IT staff must make choices about using AI in their clinics. Knowing what the public thinks about these AI uses can help healthcare leaders handle worries, build patient trust, and successfully add AI to their work. This article looks at what Americans think about AI in these healthcare areas, focusing on data privacy, patient relationships, and how AI affects work processes.
A survey by the Pew Research Center in December 2022 shows many Americans have mixed feelings about AI in healthcare. When asked if they would be okay if their doctors used AI to diagnose or treat diseases, 60% said they would not feel comfortable. Only 39% said they would feel comfortable. This shows that healthcare places must think about these worries when using AI for patient care.
About 38% of people believe AI will improve health results. However, 33% think AI might make results worse, and 27% expect no big change. Forty percent think AI could help reduce mistakes by healthcare workers, but 27% fear it could cause more errors. More than half (57%) feel AI might hurt the relationship between patients and their providers. Also, 37% worry that AI might make health records less secure, showing big concerns about data safety.
These numbers show that public feelings about AI in healthcare are not simple. Some are hopeful, but many have questions, especially about personal care and data security, which are very important in medicine.
One area where AI gets more support is skin cancer screening. The survey found that 65% of Americans want AI to help in this screening. Many believe AI can make diagnoses more accurate, with 55% agreeing with this.
People might trust AI more here because skin cancer screening uses pictures and patterns. AI can look at thousands of skin images very fast and often spot early signs of dangerous skin cancer that humans might miss. For clinic managers, this means AI screening tools could help find cancer more accurately and reduce missed cases. At the same time, many patients seem to see clear benefits in using AI for this task.
In contrast, fewer people trust AI surgical robots. Only 40% feel okay with robots helping in surgery, while 59% do not want this technology used during their operations.
Comfort with surgical robots depends a lot on how much people know about them. Those who understand how surgical robots work tend to see them as helpful, but people who know less often do not want them used. This means that clinic managers and IT teams need to explain surgical robots carefully to patients. Showing how precise and safe these robots are might help lower patients’ worries.
This also points out a bigger issue: people’s acceptance of AI depends on how well they understand the technology and its benefits. Clear information is needed to build trust in these tools.
Mental health is a very sensitive area for AI use. The survey shows that 79% of Americans would not want to use AI chatbots for mental health help. Almost half (46%) say these chatbots should only be used with human therapists.
This distrust happens because mental health care needs empathy, deep understanding, and human connection. Both patients and providers doubt if AI chatbots can offer the caring support humans give. Even though chatbots can give quick replies and basic advice, they cannot feel emotions like therapists do. Health clinic managers should note this and use AI mental health tools only to help, not replace, human therapists.
One big challenge in using AI in healthcare is data privacy. Patients worry about how their private health information is kept and used. The Pew survey found that 37% of Americans think AI use would make health record security worse. Only 22% believe it would make security better.
These worries are shared by patients, the public, and medical workers. Data privacy is a top concern when AI is introduced. Patients are more willing to give anonymous data to help improve AI but hesitate to share personal health details with insurance companies or tech firms. Health workers also want clear rules about who is responsible for data safety to prevent leaks or misuse.
Healthcare managers should respond by having strong security measures and following laws like HIPAA. They must tell patients clearly how AI handles their data. Good rules for making data anonymous, storing it, and controlling access can help build trust. Trust is very important for wider use of AI.
Another major reason some people resist AI is the fear it could harm the patient-provider connection. More than half of Americans (57%) think AI could make this relationship worse. Only 13% believe AI might improve it.
Healthcare usually depends a lot on personal communication and care between patients and providers. Patients want reassurance, emotional support, and a real connection with their doctors besides medical treatment. AI tools, which are automated and impersonal, might make healthcare feel more like a machine and less caring.
For hospital managers and practice owners, this means AI should be a helper to human care, not a replacement. AI can do routine tasks, so providers have more time to spend with patients and give them attention.
Though this article mainly talks about AI in medical work, AI also helps with office tasks. Companies like Simbo AI focus on making phone services automatic. This can affect healthcare clinics in the U.S.
AI phone systems can schedule appointments, answer patient questions, and handle simple triage without people answering calls. For medical managers, this helps in several ways:
This use of AI is practical and helps with worries about AI replacing human care. People often accept AI when it supports human workers instead of taking their place. Phone automation is seen as a simple, low-risk way to help both staff and patients.
IT managers should consider adding AI phone automation to update office work. This can improve how clinics run while letting medical staff focus on patient care.
As AI grows in healthcare, leaders must face rules and ethical issues that affect how AI is accepted and used. A recent review in a medical journal offers useful notes on this.
AI tools have improved fast, helping with diagnosis, workflow, and personalized care. Still, their use raises ethical questions about patient safety, fairness, and openness. Rules must be made to make sure these tools are used safely and rightly.
Main legal issues include:
Ethically, AI must avoid bias that could make healthcare unfair. About half of Americans think AI might help reduce racial and ethnic bias by making decisions fairer. But some worry that poor AI designs could make these problems worse.
Healthcare leaders and IT staff must work with policymakers, tech experts, and doctors to make clear rules. These rules should require transparency in AI choices, check AI tools before use, and watch AI safety and success over time.
Training all staff, including doctors and office workers, is very important. A study by Vinh Vo and others found that professionals want more teaching about AI so they can know its good points and limits.
Many patients and healthcare workers don’t know much about AI, which causes mistrust. Teaching both groups can help make AI accepted more. This includes:
For medical managers, owners, and IT staff in the U.S., knowing what the public thinks about AI gives helpful guidance. AI can help with better diagnosis, fewer errors, and easier workflows. But worries about privacy, trust, and patient care still exist.
Healthcare places should add AI carefully, focusing first on areas patients trust more, like skin cancer screening and office automation. At the same time, they should deal carefully with doubts about surgical robots and mental health chatbots.
Being open, protecting data well, and teaching staff and patients can help AI be accepted more smoothly. AI can help make care better and more efficient, while still keeping the personal connection between patient and provider that is very important.
60% of U.S. adults report feeling uncomfortable if their healthcare provider used AI for diagnosis and treatment recommendations, while 39% said they would be comfortable.
Only 38% believe AI would improve health outcomes by diagnosing diseases and recommending treatments, 33% think it would worsen outcomes, and 27% see little to no difference.
40% of Americans think AI use in healthcare would reduce mistakes made by providers, whereas 27% believe it would increase mistakes, and 31% expect no significant change.
Among those who recognize racial and ethnic bias as an issue, 51% believe AI would help reduce this bias, 15% think it would worsen it, and about one-third expect no change.
A majority, 57%, believe AI would deteriorate the personal connection between patients and providers, whereas only 13% think it would improve this relationship.
Men, younger adults, and individuals with higher education levels are more open to AI in healthcare, but even among these groups, around half or more still express discomfort.
Most Americans (65%) would want AI used for skin cancer screening, viewing it as a medical advance, while fewer are comfortable with AI-driven surgery robots, pain management AI, or mental health chatbots.
About 40% would want AI robots used in their surgery, 59% would not; those familiar with these robots largely see them as a medical advance, whereas lack of familiarity leads to greater rejection.
79% of U.S. adults would not want to use AI chatbots for mental health support, with concerns about their standalone effectiveness; 46% say these chatbots should only supplement therapist care.
37% believe AI use in health and medicine would worsen health record security, while 22% think it would improve security, indicating significant public concern about data privacy in AI applications.
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