Mastodawn

Something a bit worrying to note about using Ai in healthcare.

I’ve had two specialist appointments recently, both using ai to transcribe. Both sent report letters with inaccuracies about my diagnoses and past medical history. Even my GP was like, “huh, that directly contradicts what I put in the referrals.”

I have followed up both and requested amendments (which were done) but if I hadn’t, these inaccuracies could have significantly damaged ongoing care, further treatment or insurance claims.

Human error has always been a factor, but both doctors were clearly using the ai software and assuming what it spat out was correct. They made no other notes during the appointments to cross-reference and double check. This is how Very Bad Things can happen.

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Tee Rex 🏳️‍🌈🦖2d ago

Two friends have told me in the last week they had similar issues happen. One had an incorrect diagnosis listed before they had a procedure done. The other noted viral not bacterial infection (although they did at least get the medication they needed). I feel like I’m being a pain in the bum going over everything and requesting corrections, but I’m seeing so many mistakes, to the point where any human reading them would immediately say “that doesn’t even make sense”. I worry for those who don’t or aren’t capable of checking these things. Sure, using ai might save the docs 10 minutes per patient in the ER but is that really worth the risks?

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Aethon

@bloodflowersburning

As an ex healthcare person based in the UK, it’s being actively pushed all the time and of course we always implicitly trust a machine so the letters and notes are rarely checked.

The most tech I would use was dictation software for my letters for speed and even then they needed reading after transcription as it didn’t recognise certain terms.

This stuff scares me as decisions are made between professionals based on the contents of communications and I have heard so many tales like yours that we simply don’t know where the errors are creeping in.

The only way is to keep your own notes and records but that can be difficult and exhausting.

Good luck.