Americans are increasingly relying on technology to make basic health decisions, experts report.
Rahul Ladhania is an assistant professor of Health Informatics at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. He said that “the ability to get health information, to track trends over time, has been an across-the-board increase over the last few years.”
This uptick is a result of a proliferation of smartphones, Ladhania said. They are becoming increasingly accessible to Americans, with tools that can track movement, step count, heart rate, sleep patterns, calorie count, and more.
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence chatbots has also been a source for people looking for advice about their health. For example, ChatGPT can clarify the meanings of medical jargon, making the information more digestible for patients. However, Ladhania said there is a potential for AI chatbots to spout misinformation, depending on how they are prompted by the user.
Ladhania said using technology and AI as tools is a good thing when it helps people ask better questions about their health to their clinicians. And clinicians can benefit from knowing detailed information their patient gathered from health trackers, he said.
But Ladhania said it’s important to not rely completely on information the large language models provide. He said people should understand this technology does not capture a full picture of their health profile.
“The biggest advice I have is that you do not want to think of these tools as a replacement for existing avenues of care,” he said. “You want to think of these tools as a supplement to arm you with more information.”
Be mindful of your privacy, and don’t take what these tools are telling you as the Holy Grail, Ladhania continued. “You have to have another validating source, which is your clinician, to verify that information.”
A potential reason for increased reliance on technology is that access to healthcare is not universal, Ladhania said. Barriers to receiving professional medical care coupled with the ability to access detailed information via mobile apps and AI at little to no cost contributes to more people using technology as a basis for making health decisions.
Ladhania predicted that even with the evolution of AI and its capabilities, the technology will not replace the expertise of actual doctors. He said human interactions and the understanding between a clinician and their patient formed through physical examination and face to face conversation cannot be fully captured by AI technology.
Hospitals are working toward incorporating technology tools to provide better care to patients while working in tandem with practiced clinicians. “I think the promise of the work being done in this space is huge,” Ladhania said. “But for sensitive health issues, you have to proceed with care and caution.”
