Doctors Rely on More Than Just Data for Medical Decision Making

Many technology companies are working on artificial intelligence systems that can analyze medical data to help diagnose or treat health problems. Such systems raise the question of whether this kind of technology can perform as well as a human doctor. A new study from MIT computer scientists suggests that human doctors provide a dimension that, as yet, artificial intelligence does not. By analyzing doctors' written notes on intensive-care-unit patients, the researchers found that the doctors' "gut feelings" about a particular patient's condition played a significant role in determining how many tests they ordered for the patient. The researchers describe their findings in "How is the Doctor Feeling? ICU Provider Sentiment is Associated with Diagnostic Imaging Utilization," presented at the IEEE's 40th International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference.