According to SAPO news, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could ease the pressure on the healthcare system. It is estimated that up to 40% of work hours in healthcare can be supported or augmented by generative AI, with half of healthcare organisations globally planning to use ChatGPT for learning purposes and 52% AI co-pilots in 2023, the Accenture study points out that it can "reinvent care delivery to solve clinical shortage".

“Healthcare organisations have a huge need to radically rethink the way work gets done. The global shortage of doctors is getting worse – health professionals are overwhelmed and organisations cannot hire or train to overcome this situation –, so they need to reinvent the way health care is provided, resorting to the alliance between technology and human capacity”, begins by referring Kaveh Safavi, Accenture's senior managing director in the health area, to Work by ECO.

The shortage of people is also felt in the health sector, a situation that is exacerbated by the departure of professionals due to retirement. In Portugal, by 2023 it is estimated that a record number of retirements will occur in Portugal, since, about two years ago, 24% of doctors enrolled in the Medical Association were over 65 years old.

“The studies we have estimate that up to 40% of all work hours in healthcare could be supported or augmented by language-based (or generative) AI, and currently its greatest potential in healthcare has to do with the ability to free scarce clinical resources from many of the tasks related to document management, allowing greater focus on interacting with patients”, reinforces Kaveh Safavi.

Despite the discussion around generative AI — in Europe legislation is planned to regulate this technology that 'exploded' with the launch of ChatGPT, Open AI –, half of half of healthcare organizations plan to use ChatGPT for learning purposes and 52% are planning AI co-pilots in 2023, points out Accenture's senior managing director in healthcare.

But it will be “people's perception and experience” with generative AI applications that could dictate the success of its use in the health sector and, at the same time, allow reducing the pressure on the health system, freeing professionals from bureaucratic tasks, with a focus on providing care. But for that, the way we work will also have to change.

“Organisations must recognise that to reap the full benefits of generative AI, they will also have to transform the work done by humans. This technology will take over some tasks, but not the whole job. This, in turn, will become different and people will have to adapt to redirect that time, in order to generate benefits for themselves, for their organisation and for society”, points out Kaveh Safavi.