Survey reveals physicians’ optimism, concerns around generative AI

A recent survey commissioned by Wolters Kluwer Health found that physicians are increasingly optimistic about the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, but maintain key concerns around the deployment of these technologies.

The online survey polled 100 United States-based physicians who work in large hospitals or health systems, see patients and are currently using one or more clinical decision support tools.

Alongside growing enthusiasm for generative AI, the survey highlighted gaps in adoption readiness and concerns that physicians feel need to be addressed before they can deploy these tools.

One of the major insights revealed by the survey is the rapid rate at which physicians’ perceptions around generative AI are shifting, with 68 percent of respondents indicating that they are more likely to think using generative AI in healthcare would be beneficial than they were one year prior to completing the survey.

Further, 40 percent of physicians reported being ready to use these technologies by the end of 2024, specifically to bolster interactions with patients at the point of care.

Respondents also emphasized that they see strong potential for generative AI to help tackle challenges related to clinician burnout and workforce shortages. Saving time is one of the major benefits of utilizing these technologies at the point of care, with 68 percent noting that generative AI can help users quickly search medical literature; 59 percent said these tools are useful for summarizing patient data in the electronic health record (EHR) and over half believe that the technology will help them save 20 percent or more of their time sifting through data for use in clinical decision-making.

Additionally, the survey underscored generative AI’s potential in care team workflow optimization. Roughly four out of five respondents stated that these tools can improve care team interactions with patients, while 46 percent said that the technology can help facilitate timely care by coordinating scheduling across care teams.

However, the survey also revealed that physicians have concerns and standards that must be addressed before they would feel comfortable adopting generative AI in their practice. Chief among these was content source transparency, with 58 percent of respondents stating that knowing that the tool’s training content was created by medical professionals is the number one factor they’d consider when selecting a generative AI solution.

Before using the technology for clinical decision support, 91 percent of physicians reported that they would have to know that the generative AI was trained using materials created by medical experts.

When asked about the role of vendors in generative AI transparency, 89 percent of respondents reported being more likely to use these tools if the vendor was transparent about how the information was sourced and created, while 76 percent indicated that they would be more comfortable using generative AI solutions from established vendors in the healthcare industry.

The survey also sheds light on the gaps between patient and physician readiness for generative AI use.

When compared to Wolter Kluwer Health’s “Generative AI in Healthcare: Gaining Consumer Trust” survey, published in late 2023, physicians are significantly more ready for the adoption of these tools than their patients.

Approximately two-thirds of physicians believe that their patients would be confident in their results if they knew their provider was using generative AI to guide care decisions, but 48 percent of Americans indicated that they would not be confident.

Similarly, only one in five physicians indicated that they believe their patients would be concerned about the use of these tools for a diagnosis, while 80 percent of Americans indicated that they would be concerned.

The growing enthusiasm and concerns around generative AI in healthcare come amid broader questions around the role of AI in clinical care, such as whether clinicians will become dependent on these tools.

In a November interview with HealthITAnalytics, leaders from Sentara Healthcare and UC San Diego Health discussed whether clinicians will come to rely too heavily on these technologies and how health systems interested in pursuing AI deployment can navigate those concerns.