How Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Look Like in the Future?

Research on artificial intelligence (AI) for healthcare gained interest in recent years. However, the use of AI in daily clinical practice is still rare. We created and distributed an online survey among professionals working within the health informatics field to explore their views. The provided answers were classified into referring or not to: 1) Application areas; 2) Medical specialities; 3) Specific technologies; 4) Use cases; 5) Citizens involvement; and 6) Challenges. We received 42 valid responses. With regard to the sentiment of the answers, 71,4% were classified by the AFINN tool as being positive. In light of the open question, 76,2% of the respondents referred to possible applications areas. They think the most frequent uses will be for diagnostic, decision making and treatment. 54,8% of respondents referred to use cases, being personalized care and daily practice the most popular scenarios. 28,6% mentioned citizens' involvement, and 23,8% medical specialities in which AI might be used. There is a mostly positive attitude towards the application of AI in healthcare, in particular regarding its future use for realising routine tasks. From these results, we conclude that research should further focus on realising AI-based applications for relieving health professionals from repetitive tasks and optimize healthcare processes.