Nurses Say Hospital Adoption of Half-Cooked 'AI' Is Reckless

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: Last week, hundreds of nurses protested the implementation of sloppy AI into hospital systems in front of Kaiser Permanente. Their primary concern: that systems incapable of empathy are being integrated into an already dysfunctional sector without much thought toward patient care: 'No computer, no AI can replace a human touch,' said Amy Grewal, a registered nurse. 'It cannot hold your loved one's hand. You cannot teach a computer how to have empathy.'

There are certainly roles automation can play in easing strain on a sector full of burnout after COVID, particularly when it comes to administrative tasks. The concern, as with other industries dominated by executives with poor judgement, is that this is being used as a justification by for-profit hospital systems to cut corners further. From a National Nurses United blog post (spotted by 404 Media): 'Nurses are not against scientific or technological advancement, but we will not accept algorithms replacing the expertise, experience, holistic, and hands-on approach we bring to patient care,' they added.

Kaiser Permanente, for its part, insists it's simply leveraging 'state-of-the-art tools and technologies that support our mission of providing high-quality, affordable health care to best meet our members' and patients' needs.' The company claims its 'Advance Alert' AI monitoring system -- which algorithmically analyzes patient data every hour -- has the potential to save upwards of 500 lives a year. The problem is that healthcare giants' primary obligation no longer appears to reside with patients, but with their financial results. And, that's even true in non-profit healthcare providers. That is seen in the form of cut corners, worse service, and an assault on already over-taxed labor via lower pay and higher workload (curiously, it never seems to impact outsized high-level executive compensation).

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