D’yani Florence
Healthcare administration has a wide variety of career services. A plethora of topics that pertain to ethics are discussed. Because of the multitude of standards from different departments, skepticism unfolds about regulations (Young, M & Wagner, A., 2024). One popular topic is telemedicine. Telemedicine has brought so many benefits to the healthcare field such as accessibility. While access to healthcare has evolved through telemedicine, ethics will always remain a hot take. For patients’ privacy, rights, and quality of care to stay prioritized, these struggles require discussion.
Concerns about telemedicine have risen as more patients and physicians exchange health information electronically, increasing the risk for patient data security and care. Physicians must practice ethically to gain patients’ trust. Steps must be continually taken to deliver ethical care in telemedicine. For instance, physicians require their patients to be properly protected under HIPAA. Because the risk of breaches is higher when utilizing telemedicine, physicians must be aware of making and relaying proper information to the patients under a secure network. All these ethical steps in telemedicine will produce the successful outcome of efficient patient care overall.
Rachael Wheelous
AI has become pivotal in advancing healthcare, particularly emergency medicine, where time-sensitive decisions save lives. Emergency medicine is a multidisciplinary field that integrates diverse medical specialties, and AI assistance could result in quicker, personalized treatment for patients (Hokenek & Demirhan, 2024). AI technology harnesses the ability to process large amounts of data, sift through research to provide the most relevant information, and provide solutions. Eliminating mundane research tasks could result in quality time for providers and researchers to focus on patient care and medical advancements (Hokenek & Demirhan, 2024).
However, like academic institutions, medical institutions have concerns about how to implement the utilization of AI ethically. Iserson et al. (2024) discuss that, like academics, overreliance on AI could diminish emergency room physicians’ critical thinking, diagnostic, and decision-making skills. Once physicians become heavily reliant on AI, they could discontinue consulting literature and regard AI as the final authority. This could lead to complex issues if poor patient outcomes are the result. Who would we sue if the wrong medication was prescribed, the doctor or the computer?
The integration of AI in medicine has benefits, specifically for the medical team making life-and-death decisions at the emergency department’s bedside. By establishing guidelines and recognizing AI’s limitations, we can ensure the ethical integrity and consistency of high-quality care in emergency medicine.
