New Delhi, January 5 (IANS). A new research has revealed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help doctors in identifying patients at risk of suicide. This could improve suicide prevention efforts in routine medical procedures.
According to research published in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers compared the two methods. The first method was to interrupt doctors’ work by showing pop-up alerts, and the second was to include risk information in the patient’s electronic report.
The research found that pop-up alerts were more effective. Because of these, doctors assessed the risk of suicide in 42% of cases, whereas the figure was only 4% in the report only showing information.
Colin Walsh, a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said most people who commit suicide have seen a doctor in the year before their death, but often not for a mental health problem.
The team tested their AI system, called the Vanderbilt Suicide Attempt and Ideation Likelihood (VSAIL) model, to screen patients for suicide risk in three neurology clinics.
“It’s not possible to screen all patients everywhere. The VSAIL model was developed specifically to identify high-risk patients and help doctors get the necessary tests done,” Walsh said.
The model predicts the risk of a suicide attempt in the next 30 days using a patient’s electronic health record.
Researchers say that such systems can be tried in other medical fields also. However, health services must strike a balance between effective alerts and their potential negative impacts.
According to the study, automated risk detection and well-designed alerts can better identify patients at risk for suicide. The research also revealed that 77% of people who commit suicide had contacted a primary care provider in the year before their death.
–IANS
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