New AI progression rolls out for GPs

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow and evolve, new uses are emerging, including in general practice.
 
AI scribes have become commonplace in clinics, with around 40% of GPs now using them in their daily practice.
 
Now, a new use for AI is emerging in Australia, with a clinical assistant launching for GPs.
 
On Tuesday, Medcast launched MedLuma – a clinical-grade, AI-driven search tool.
 
When designing the tool, Medcast founder and GP Dr Stephen Barnett said that as new medical information is released, GPs are often left questioning ‘how do you actually use that knowledge and how do you get it into practice?’.
 
‘Guidance, and guidelines, and all these things are amazing, but they’re static documents, they’re fragmented, they’re in lots of different places and you can’t ask a question of it,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘The important thing is this is medical grade AI.
 
‘So, for the last several years we have been building an AI that curates just Australian guidelines and guidance and evidence, and then relevant literature from the broader Australian and international literature.’
 
Dr Barnett said MedLuma is not designed to replace the GP, rather to help doctors by ‘improving peripheral vision’.
 
‘It’s medical grade AI at the point of care that is fast, allows you to claim CPD while you work, is Australian, and actually just makes your day a little bit easier,’ he said.
 
‘This is a really effective way of using technology to drive positive change, but actually also make the GP’s life more sustainable and easier.
 
‘It reduces my cognitive load a bit because there is that curation, and I know that all the sources are safe, and I can click through and they’re Australian.’
 
The launch comes as AI’s use as a search tool continues to expand to the general public.
 
Earlier this year, ChatGPT Health launched in Australia – a platform which has brought about mixed reviews from GPs.
 
According to developer OpenAI, more than 230 million people were already asking health and wellness questions on ChatGPT every week, prompting its health extension.
 
But as more clinician-specific AI tools emerge, RACGP Specific Interests – Digital Health and Innovation Chair Dr Sean Stevens said it is inevitable that AI will continue to advance and change within healthcare.
 
He said that if it is used ‘properly and responsibly, AI has enormous potential’.
 
‘There’s such a huge body of knowledge that GPs have to stay across, if you can use AI to assimilate all of that information and present it to you in a useable format that you can be sure is accurate, then I reckon it will have a lot of benefits,’ Dr Stevens told newsGP.
 
‘But you’ve got to make sure it fits within our current workflows because you don’t want it to be extra work – you want it to make you do a better job more efficiently.’
 
However, he said it remains critical that GPs continue to have oversight over AI tools and that final decisions still remain with the doctor.
 
‘We all know that AI can hallucinate and make stuff up,’ Dr Stevens said.
 
‘You’ve got to do your due diligence on the tool that you want to use and make sure that it meets all the requirements for working as a medical device.
 
‘You still need to check the recommendations, particularly if they don’t equate to what you think you would be doing.’
 
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