Module Components

• Overview
• Assignments

Topics

• Health Information Technology
• Nurses Role in HIT
• Essential Knowledge
• Emerging Technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

NURS 450 - RN to BSN Transition: Implications for Practice, Policy and the Profession

Module 12: Informatics

emerging technologies: artificial intelligence(ai)

An emerging technology used in healthcare, and beyond, is AI. The definition of AI might be best explained as computer-applying human intellectual characteristics to problem solve. This ability to take in information then solve problems or answer a question is very similar to having the ability to reason or generalize. This is possible because the computer learns how to respond from previous experiences (Bali et al., 2019). We can consider AI is an applicable term across numerous technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, rule-based expert systems, physical robots, and robotic process automation (Davenport & Kalakota, 2019). In addition, within healthcare, AI is currently applied in diagnostics, population health management, patient engagement, patient adherence promotion, and in administrative activities (Davenport & Kalakota, 2019). Many of us have Siri or Alexa in our homes and you may ask if this is an example of AI. Siri is Apple's personal assistant for Mac devices that uses voice recognition and is powered by AI.

McKeon (2021) discusses the role of AI might have in the care and treatment of patients. Read the short article, titled, AI Finds Gene Expression Data to Predict COVID-19 Patient Outcomes, to see how large amounts of data could be pooled and analyzed to predict patient outcomes (https://healthitanalytics.com/news/ai-finds-gene-expression-data-to-predict-covid-19-patient-outcomes).