At a small pharmacy in regional NSW, the staff have noticed a change in the behaviour of their regular clientele.<\/p>\n
More and more, locals are walking in the front doors of Blooms The Chemist in Mudgee and asking pharmacy workers whether diagnoses they have received from AI chat bots are legitimate.<\/p>\n
Pharmacy owner Laura Rheinberger told NewsWire the most common queries came from concerned parents of young children and people struggling with their sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are increasingly seeing people come into the pharmacy after researching their symptoms online or using AI to find out more about how they\u2019re feeling and what that could mean,\u201d Ms Rheinberger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone might come into the pharmacy after using AI to try to understand why their child is experiencing a particular symptom, or what might be causing a sleep issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Rheinberger confessed even as a qualified pharmacist, she too has consulted AI chat bots on how to best console her newborn while trying to calm her crying child down in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cSleep issues in particular can have different causes, from day-to-day stresses all the way to more complex issues like obstructive sleep apnoea,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where having a healthcare professional talk through these concerns can be important, particularly when the case isn\u2019t straightforward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI cannot see, listen, touch or feel a patient to gather more information. It cannot order blood tests or conduct imaging. Those important tasks can only be done in person by a healthcare professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pharmacists aren\u2019t the only medical experts dealing with an inundation of clients adamant their chat bot knows best.<\/p>\n
General practitioners are also having interactions with patients who seem to have done their research using AI.<\/p>\n
Queensland-based GP Sidd Sarmah said the world of algorithms, shortened attention spans and a greater urgency for information had created an environment where people looked for \u201csugar hits\u201d in their everyday life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we look for is convenience, that\u2019s what I mean by sugar hits. Anything that\u2019s convenient for the patient, they reach out for,\u201d Dr Sarmah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes that can be advantageous, and sometimes it can mean even bigger problems down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArtificial Intelligence runs on pattern recognition, and while there are patterns in medicine, there can also be variations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of the human body, it isn\u2019t a code to be understood or interpreted in a particular way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Sarmah said his practice had seen an increasing amount of people stepping through the door having already attempted to educate themselves on their condition through the use of AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile that in and of itself is not a bad thing \u2013 we always encourage people to question what is happening in their bodies and their health \u2013 there are still a number of cons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dangers of bypassing a general practitioner or family doctor and trying to interpret the information handed to you through an algorithm can be quite significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre they going to be falsely assured that the lump in their neck is nothing but a gland caught in a viral infection? Or is there actually something more sinister going on which could have been picked up by a GP?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Sarmah recalled one instance where a man aged in his 30s scheduled an appointment to try to understand why he was experiencing a nasty bout of diarrhoea.<\/p>\n
Through consultation with AI, the man assumed he had contracted some kind of stomach bug through his work, which involved a lot of overseas travel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe travelled quite a lot with his job, and he had been taking over-the-counter anti-diarrhoea medications. He felt that this was going on a bit too long, and we looked at his past records and he didn\u2019t have any issues with bowel problems,\u201d Dr Sarmah said.<\/p>\n
The man had visibly lost weight, which he assumed was because he hadn\u2019t been eating properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ran some basic tests on him, found him to be anaemic, and long story short, he was diagnosed with Crohn\u2019s disease,\u201d Dr Sarmah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a classic example of ongoing diarrhoea, which could be put down to gastro by artificial intelligence, actually being something much more serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Sarmah said the ever-developing world of AI was \u201cuncharted territory,\u201d but ultimately, what sets medical experts apart is the element of trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is uncharted territory. We need to be mindful when we go down this road, because we don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going to end up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing is for sure, and that is that general practitioners will remain at the centre of a patient\u2019s healthcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWherever the information comes from, whatever the source, we are still the most well-equipped people to interpret that data in the context of a patients needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a small pharmacy in regional NSW, the staff have noticed a change in the behaviour of 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