Here's How An Algorithm Guides A Medical Decision - AI Summary

Artificial intelligence tools are complicated computer programs that suck in vast amounts of data, search for patterns or trajectories, and make a prediction or recommendation to help guide a decision. Patients don't need to understand these algorithms at a data-scientist level, but it's still useful for people to have a general idea of how AI-based healthcare tools work, says Suresh Balu, program director at the Duke Institute for Health Innovation. Some patients can get a little jumpy when they hear algorithms are being used in their care, says Mark Sendak, a data scientist at the Duke Institute for Health Innovation. We picked an algorithm that flags patients in the early stages of sepsis -- a life-threatening complication from an infection that results in widespread inflammation through the body. The algorithm we're looking at underpins a program called Sepsis Watch, which Sendak and Balu helped develop at Duke University.