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Clinicians Should Use LLMs: Here's How They Can Do So Safely

Published on
November 11, 2024

In the rapidly evolving field of healthcare, the use of AI tools like large language models (LLMs) is becoming increasingly prevalent. While the potential of these tools is immense, their application in patient care requires careful consideration to ensure safety and reliability. With many healthcare professionals experimenting with public AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, it's crucial to highlight the risks and explore safer alternatives tailored to clinical settings.

The Current Landscape of LLMs in Healthcare

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are popular due to their accessibility and simplicity. However, a recent article from Fierce Healthcare highlights a concerning trend—some doctors are utilizing these public tools for clinical decisions despite the lack of standardization and regulatory guidance. This raises critical questions about patient safety and the reliability of such tools in healthcare settings.

Problems with General LLMs
  1. Missing Critical Patient Context: Publicly available LLMs are not designed to incorporate or process detailed patient information. This can lead to recommendations that lack the nuance required for individualized patient care.
  2. Irrelevant or Dangerous Outputs: Without proper contextual understanding, LLMs may generate outputs that are irrelevant or potentially harmful, especially when addressing complex medical conditions.
  3. Risks to HIPAA Compliance: Using public AI tools poses a significant risk to patient privacy. Confidential health information must remain secure, which is not guaranteed by general LLMs.
  4. Inability to Vet Sources: Many LLMs do not disclose the sources of their information, making it difficult for clinicians to verify the accuracy and credibility of the advice provided.

A Safer Alternative: Clinician-Focused LLM Tools

To address the challenges posed by general-purpose LLMs, healthcare professionals should consider adopting specialized tools designed for clinical use. That's why we built Ask Avo, a clinician-focused AI consult tool that offers several advantages over general AI chatbots.

Why is Ask Avo Safer?
  • Trusted Sources: Ask Avo sources information exclusively from reputable guidelines and institutions approved by the healthcare organization. This ensures that the advice given aligns with current medical standards. In a recent study of over 60 clinicians, clinicians found Ask Avo 35% more trustworthy than ChatGPT.
  • Patient Context Integration: By leveraging EHR data thanks to its EHR integration, Ask Avo tailors responses to the specific context of each patient, enhancing the relevance and safety of the recommendations made.
  • HIPAA Compliance: Ask Avo is designed to be HIPAA-compliant and SOC 2 Type II certified, ensuring that patient data remains protected and confidential.

It's Time for Healthcare Orgs to Offer Clinicians Safe LLM Solutions, Reducing Cognitive Load and Improving Patient Safety

To safely integrate LLMs into clinical practice, healthcare executives should look for the following:

  1. Evidence-Based Models: Partner with LLM tools that are backed by robust, updated, and traceable evidence, in addition to things like dosing information, hospital guidelines, and protocols.
  2. Customizability and Transparency: Develop and implement protocols for the use of LLMs in your institution. Medical chatbots or consult tools should not be one-size-fits-all. Clearly define the types of queries and decisions that can be safely supported by AI tools, and integrate them into your solution.
  3. EHR Integration: Patient context is everything. By integrating in the EHR organizations can help their clinicians build confidence in things like their differential diagnosis and orders, and reduce the need to search around the EHR for the full patient picture, by giving them a chart synopsis on the patient and identifying care gaps they should look into.

Takeaways

The integration of LLMs into healthcare presents a significant opportunity for improving efficiency, reducing cognitive load, and enhancing decision-making. However, it is imperative to approach this integration with caution and attention to patient safety. By choosing specialized tools like Ask Avo, healthcare professionals can harness the power of AI while minimizing risks.

And here's the thing - clinicians are using LLMs whether or not you like it. Now is the time to explore safe and effective options for your clinical workforce.

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