When AI is watching patient care: Ethics to consider - Scope

The potential benefits of artificial intelligence to health care are enormous, but these emerging technologies also raise a number of ethical and legal considerations. These questions are particularly relevant to a subset of AI known as computer vision-based ambient intelligence, which uses a video camera or sensors to monitor activity in a physical space, such as a patient room or hospital hallway. The technology analyzes -- in real time -- the resulting video data, which can appear as standard footage, depth or thermal data captured as silhouette-like moving images, or in other forms. Such tools can potentially help nurses ensure that patients in an intensive care unit are enhancing their recovery by moving around. Computer vision technology also can be used to document whether nurses and doctors are following proper hand-washing protocol, considered the first line of defense against hospital-acquired infections.