Unleashing the Potential of AI
Veterinarians, especially general practitioners, are uniquely poised to benefit from the use of artificial intelligence in clinical practice.
Roughly 80% of the veterinarians in the United States are small animal general practitioners, that means there are about 100,000 of us. As generalists, we are extraordinarily well-positioned to benefit from the use of large learning models, especially once they’ve been trained on textbooks, journals, and working papers on veterinary medicine. Minutes or hours of research can be done in seconds, from a much wider variety of sources. AI consultations are already a reality in radiology, it doesn’t take a wild imagination to foresee a world where the knowledge and experience of other specialists can be employed in much the same way. There’s already a story about how ChatGPT offered a “second opinion” of sorts and helped a veterinarian correctly diagnose a patient with IMHA. Veterinarian-moderated message boards and “information networks”? A vulnerable species destined to be remembered in the vaguely nostalgic way we consider walkmans and rotary phones.
In Eric Topol’s book, Deep Medicine, he mentions how unusual it would be for him as a patient, to sit and consult with a radiologist. He’d likely never meet the radiologist, his urologist is likely to only read the report and never see the imaging studies performed, and Topol would likely have a much harder time reaching a diagnosis and receiving an appropriate treatment plan for his bladder stones. In vet med? It’s quite likely that the doctor who initially examines the patient, recommends radiographs, interprets radiographs, recommends surgery, recommends and performs pre-surgery screening, administers anesthesia, and performs surgery and follow up care are all the same person. At my hospital, we could go wire-to-wire on this process in two days. You’d need at least four physicians and an army of highly-trained nurses and adjacent professionals to do what I can do with the help of two undergraduate students. And I can get it done by lunchtime today, I’d have a hard time getting an appointment with my own family physician this month.
And with the help of AI? Triaging patients through client interactions and helping to guide them to an appointment? Enhancing diagnosis by recommending and even helping to interpret diagnostic and pre-surgical screening? Recommending the latest and greatest in post-operative care based on dozens of studies that came out this year? And helping ease the communication burden on me and my staff by fielding and triaging client questions and follow-up calls? I could finish that surgery by lunchtime today and not work through the midday break. I could have my lunch and eat it too!
The nature of our work as generalists means that the body of knowledge for which we’re responsible is much broader than most folks. As a practice owner, I’m supposed to know all about bookkeeping, SEO management, taxes, leadership, management, human resource laws and regulations, and medicine and surgery. Did you know they make leaded drywall for radiology suites? I didn’t until about three years ago. Did you know in which states it is and isn’t required? Me neither! But a couple of quick prompts into a chatbot and I’ve got a pretty good start. Things that took months can now take minutes. It can help find, organize, and express the collected knowledge of experts in a way that allows me to bring it to bear in everyday practice. The power of these AI chatbots to absolutely supercharge our work in medicine is enticing, and the possibilities offered by their pluripotency are so abundant as to defy comprehensive enumeration.
The potential benefits of integrating AI and chatbots into veterinary medicine are vast and exciting. As generalists, veterinarians are extraordinarily positioned to take advantage of these technologies. From enhancing diagnosis to triaging patients and managing post-operative care, the opportunities for AI and chatbots to streamline our work and improve patient outcomes are abundant. With the help of these powerful tools, veterinarians can save time, increase efficiency, and provide even better care for our animal patients. The possibilities are endless, and it's clear that the integration of AI and chatbots into veterinary medicine is a revolution that we should all be eager to embrace.