Objectives:
The beliefs of laypeople and medical professionals often diverge with
regards to disease, and technology has had a positive impact on how
research is conducted. Surprisingly, given the expanding worldwide
funding and research into Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in
healthcare, there is a paucity of research exploring the public patient
perspective on this technology. Our study sets out to address this
knowledge gap, by applying the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) to
explore patient public views on AI.
Methods:
A Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used involving four study groups
with seven participants in each group. This started with a silent
generation of ideas regarding the benefits and concerns of AI in
Healthcare. This was followed by a group discussion. Then a round-robin
process was conducted until no new ideas were generated. Participants
then ranked their top five benefits and top five concerns regarding the
use of AI in healthcare. A final group consensus was reached.
Results:
Twenty-Eight participants were recruited with the mean age of 47 years.
The top five benefits were: Faster health services, Greater accuracy in
management, AI systems available 24/7, reducing workforce burden,
and equality in healthcare decision making. The top five concerns were:

Data cybersecurity, bias and quality of AI data, less human interaction,
algorithm errors and responsibility, and limitation in technology.
Conclusion:
This is the first formal qualitative study exploring patient public views on
the use of AI in healthcare, and highlights that there is a clear understanding of the potential benefits delivered by this technology.
Greater patient public group involvement, and a strong regulatory
framework is recommended.