Artificial intelligence and robotics are opening new possibilities in patient care, rehabilitation and medical training, but a clinical professor says their success will depend on how effectively the technologies support doctors rather than replace them.
Dr Reza Sadeghian, an AI strategist, clinical adviser and clinical professor of paediatrics at St George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, says healthcare must focus on the practical value of artificial intelligence (AI), rather than technological advancement alone.
“AI gives robotics greater intelligence, but healthcare must give it a clinically meaningful purpose,” he says.
AI-powered robots can help patients undergoing rehabilitation by measuring their movements and adjusting therapy to their progress. Autonomous systems can also transport medicines, medical supplies and laboratory specimens within healthcare facilities.
Other developments in smart prosthetics, robotic exoskeletons, remote monitoring and home-based care are creating further opportunities to support patients, including older people and those who need assistance with everyday activities.
Dr Sadeghian believes the greatest potential lies in connecting these technologies with clinical data to make treatment more responsive to individual patients.
However, he says technology should complement the expertise of healthcare professionals, with doctors retaining responsibility for clinical decisions.
“The best model is collaborative intelligence,” he explains.
AI can help identify patterns, monitor patients continuously, retrieve information and handle repetitive tasks. Doctors, meanwhile, must interpret the information, communicate with patients, exercise clinical judgement and make final decisions.
Preparing doctors for AI-assisted medicine
The growing use of AI in healthcare is also changing the skills expected of future doctors.
Medical graduates will need to understand how AI systems work, assess the reliability of their recommendations and recognise when a technology produces incorrect results or operates outside its intended context.
Dr Sadeghian says medical education must prepare students to use these tools critically while maintaining the human relationships at the centre of patient care.
“Cool technology should enable warm hands,” he says.
“AI should reduce the mechanical burden of medicine so clinicians can devote more attention to listening, reasoning, and caring.”
At St George’s University (SGU), students develop clinical reasoning, communication, examination, procedural and teamwork skills through simulation and practical clinical training.
The university’s Simulation Program has received full accreditation through 31 December 2030, covering teaching and education as well as assessment.
SGU also offers students access to clinical training through a network of more than 75 affiliated hospitals and health systems across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The international network exposes students to different healthcare environments, where technology, clinical practice and patients’ needs may vary.
Dr Sadeghian believes simulation could play a greater role in preparing medical students to use AI responsibly.
Students could be presented with AI-generated recommendations and asked to identify errors, assess whether the advice is clinically appropriate and decide when a doctor’s judgement should take precedence.
Such training would help students understand both the capabilities and limitations of AI before relying on it in clinical practice.
Safety, privacy and accountability
Integrating AI and robotics into healthcare will require cooperation between professionals from different fields.
Doctors, engineers, AI specialists, data scientists, human-factors experts, ethicists and patients all have roles to play in developing technologies that address real clinical needs.
The next decade could bring further advances in rehabilitation, independent living and home-based healthcare, while helping extend services to communities with limited access to medical facilities.
But wider adoption will also raise questions about patient safety, cybersecurity, privacy, accountability, cost and unequal access to technology.
Healthcare providers will need evidence that new systems improve patient outcomes and can be used safely in different clinical settings.
For Dr Sadeghian, the central consideration is how technology improves the quality of care, rather than how much of it healthcare systems can adopt.
As AI and robotics become more integrated into medical practice, the challenge for medical schools and healthcare providers will be to prepare professionals who can use technological advances without losing sight of clinical judgement and the needs of individual patients.
