Health care IT teams increasingly face requests to update facility infrastructures so providers can use artificial intelligence in their care frameworks. How can they do that while simultaneously addressing the industry’s prolonged labor shortages?
1. Understand the Organization’s Current Tech Structure
IT professionals must begin by mapping out the facility’s existing technical infrastructure and how workers engage with it. Once they diagram it out and study the present workflows, it’ll be easier to understand how AI might fit in and how it could help with health worker shortages. These steps can become more time-consuming in large organizations, but completing them can pay off by highlighting unmet needs and compelling opportunities.
A Nebraska-based health system with two hospitals and nearly 70 medical centers began using an AI tool to reduce turnover among first-year nurses and other health worker staff. The chosen solution combines various human resource systems into a single cloud-based platform, making the associated information more accessible to managers.
A representative from the health system’s tech provider said this offering could save six hours per week and help users prioritize their actions to make the most impact. The tech implementation reduced nurse turnover by 47%, and executives noticed significant retention improvements within eight months.
Similar results are most likely to occur elsewhere when hospital administrators and other involved parties work closely with IT professionals to learn more about successful utilization strategies for the present systems.
2. Listen to Providers’ Insights About Planned Tech Implementations
It is also important to hear about how health care providers would like support with their current workflows. Shortages can happen when people leave their positions because they feel overstretched and believe no relief exists. Although some individuals believe AI will replace their roles, the best implementations usually involve the technology supplementing humans’ expertise. That reality can mean it eases work-related burdens.
One investigation showed that radiologists were 95% accurate when using an AI tool to find cancer. Allowing professionals to use artificial intelligence in their work that way is especially important when in-demand medical specialists feel frequently stressed due to their heavy workloads. Being consistently under pressure can make people more likely to overlook aspects of patient charts or imaging files or misread those resources. When IT professionals hear about providers’ current challenges, it is easier for them to evaluate the best ways to insert tech into their processes.
Another strategy is to get details from potential users about patient engagement and how technology could enhance it. Medical professionals may mention feeling too distracted while typing notes with screen-based devices during face-to-face conversations. In those cases, AI medical scribe tools can address that downside. They allow providers to maintain eye contact while listening carefully and practicing empathetic communication. Then, patients are more likely to trust medical professionals and feel satisfied with the interactions.
IT professionals should rely on user feedback before, during and after tech rollouts. The things cdfc
health care providers mention can help the process go more smoothly and become increasingly fulfilling for everyone.
3. Examine Platforms That Use AI to Train Health Worker Staff Faster
Many individuals see health care industry careers as options for getting into better-paying jobs and finding their skills almost perpetually needed. However, a notable downside for many of them is the long training programs that they must enroll in to get the required skills. Many AI tech companies have focused on making workplace education more accessible, and some specialize in platforms for aspiring health care workers.
One startup currently raising funding has an AI platform that needs only four months to train students for entry-level medical industry positions. The average cost is just $2,500. That’s a stark difference compared to programs at trade schools or community colleges that often take years and cost as much as $20,000.
Another component of the company’s process is a partnership with 8,000 clinics and hospitals. Learners attend those after completing the online component of their coursework to receive one or two months of hands-on training.
A startup representative noted that health care employers like this arrangement because it helps them address hiring needs. The brief period gives them time to get to know the students, see if they like them and gauge how well they perform in the role. Then, if they like them, they can hire them without the lengthy process of placing ads, screening candidates and scheduling interviews to fill positions.
IT professionals should look for similar programs their health care organizations could participate in to fill labor gaps. Those opportunities could be easier ways to reap the benefits of AI to tackle worker shortages before upgrading the internal tech infrastructure to use the technology more directly.
Assess the Top Needs Before Finding Solutions
In addition to following these suggestions, IT professionals should encourage administrators, people in patient care roles, floor managers and others to detail their typical daily shifts. How does technology work well for them, and in which ways does it fall short?
Finding the sources of friction and frustration could serve a dual purpose by highlighting how to deploy AI and revealing the best ways to support employees who feel under too much pressure — and may consider leaving if things don’t improve. Health care workers have dozens of potential ways to benefit from AI. Identifying those use cases early is a practical way to raise the likelihood of meaningful success.
By Zac Amos, ReHack
