TAMPA, Fla. — Artificial intelligence touches so many aspects of a person’s life now — health included.
Tampa Bay 28 Anchor Lauren St. Germain covers medical news and she recently spoke with a local doctor who says he is seeing more and more people turning to artificial intelligence and social media for medical advice.
Dr. Michael Cromer is a physician with MACMED Family Practice. He told St. Germain while it is encouraging people are taking an active role in their health, artificial intelligence does create some challenges.
"It can put a lot of fear and fright into patients once they see all the possibilities of what their symptoms are and it can often be an unnecessary thing that can drive up healthcare costs because they often direct us to do more tests than is clinically indicated or necessary or approved," Dr. Cromer explained.
"One thing that the computer doesn’t have is they don’t have clinical judgment or years of experience. That’s what we bring to the equation is our clinical judgment, years of experience and then the relationship we have with the patient."
Dr. Cromer also encourages patients to do their own research, but to be careful of their sources, especially when on social media. Dr. Cromer suggests sites like Web MD and the Mayo Clinic as resources for personal research.
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