That’s a wrap! Deetken recently had the pleasure of serving as a Bronze sponsor and exhibitor at the e-Health Conference & Tradeshow on May 26-28 in Vancouver. Co-hosted by Digital Health Canada, Canada Health Infoway and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, e-Health is Canada’s largest annual gathering of digital health professionals who are making a difference in health and healthcare delivery.
At the conference, Deetken announced the launch of AI consulting services for public and private sector organisations, in collaboration with Cypress AI, a Los Angeles-based company and pioneer in artificial intelligence technologies. An expansion of our IT consulting capabilities, Deetken’s AI consulting services are designed to help organisations harness the power of AI technologies to drive innovation and growth. Read more about our new AI consulting services in our press release here.
As Canadian healthcare organisations struggle amidst a critical labour shortage, AI technologies can provide a key solution by helping automate routine tasks so clinicians can devote more time to patient care. Generative AI can unlock valuable insights from unstructured data in electronic health records to help support clinical decision-making and patient care. It may also assist in the development of personalised treatment plans, as well as promote patient safety by identifying patients at risk of experiencing adverse reactions. There is simply no end to many benefits of generative AI in clinical settings.
Our experience at the e-Health Conference only confirms the importance of technology, including generative AI, in helping reduce clinician’s administrative burden and alleviating the healthcare labour shortage. According to e-Health opening keynote speaker Dr. Kathleen Ross, President of the Canadian Medical Association and a family physician, one of the biggest thieves of time for Canadian clinicians is the 18.5 million hours they spend every year doing unnecessary administrative work!
Some other takeaways from Dr. Ross’ address:
- The Canadian healthcare sector is facing a demographic crisis. The average age of a family doctor in Canada is 51 years old. As more physicians reach retirement age in the next few years, there aren’t enough new doctors taking their place. This is happening against the backdrop of an ageing Canadian population and a consequent growing need for healthcare services.
- Some of the new clinical tools that are being rolled out in healthcare today are actually contributing to a loss of productivity as it takes time for physicians to get up to speed on new technologies.
- Electronic Medical Records often have incomplete, missing or redundant data. With incomplete data, physicians may not be getting access to the information they need to make informed clinical decisions.
- Overall, there is a need to optimise clinician time and reduce waste.
As Dr. Ross said, “human connection time is the key.” Helping clinicians focus their time and attention on patients rather than administrative tasks is a critical part of solving healthcare challenges – and AI can play an important role.
Thank you to the Deetken team and Cypress AI for supporting our presence at e-Health!
