AI tool DrugGPT will help doctors prescribe medicines and avoid mistakes
Oxford University has developed an AI tool called DrugGPT that will be useful in medicine. It should address the problems that arise when prescribing and taking medicines in the UK, The Guardian writes.
On the one hand, DrugGPT will act as an assistant to the doctor. The fact is that healthcare professionals sometimes make mistakes when prescribing drugs to patients.
The AI tool will solve this problem by helping doctors get an alternative opinion on prescriptions. To do this, the patient will need to enter information about his or her condition into the chatbot.
“It will show you the guidance – the research, flowcharts and references – and why it recommends this particular drug,” Professor David Clifton, whose team at the Oxford Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Laboratory led the project, described how DrugGPT works.
Some doctors are already using chatbots to verify diagnoses and write medical certificates or letters. However, international medical associations have previously advised doctors not to use these tools, partly because of the risk that they may provide false information.
But David Clifton claims that DrugGPT achieves results that are competitive with human experts in the US medical license exams.
At the same time, the publication emphasizes that the AI tool will become an assistant not only for doctors but also for patients. It will provide information that can help them better understand why and how to take medications.
According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, about 237 million medication errors are made in the UK every year.