Artificial intelligence (AI), defined as the ability of computers to learn human-like functions or tasks, has shown great promise. What was previously considered the sole domain of human cognition is already being leveraged successfully across many industries, including healthcare. The rapid digitization of health data with health IT in the United States has created unprecedented opportunities in the use of AI in healthcare. The AHRQ Health IT Program is leading research efforts in this area including the following research:
Dr. Michael Avidan and his research team at the Washington University School of Medicine are working to develop and evaluate an air traffic control-like command center for operating rooms. Anesthesiology Control Tower: Feedback Alerts to Supplement Treatment (ACTFAST) will apply data mining and machine learning to forecast adverse patient outcomes using data from the perioperative electronic medical record and real-time physiological data. The Anesthesiology Control Tower (ACT) will track and deliver alerts to anesthesiologists’ personal communication devices and enable expert clinicians located outside the operating room to provide attending anesthesiologists with real-time decision support.