My initial research idea and my current research idea are the same. I still want to research how data mining and machine learning can impact healthcare. I would like to find out how machine learning can positively or negatively impact healthcare.
Some of the questions I would like to answer with my research are
- How is machine learning used in healthcare?
- How can machine learning improve healthcare?
- How can machine learning negatively impact healthcare?
I have had some luck finding research related to my idea. The research I have found so far touches on one of the potential negatives of using machine learning in healthcare, displacing the human’s role. In many roles, people believe that automation will completely remove the need for the human in the role, but we often do not think of how it can actually help make the human more productive, “As deep learning algorithms have set new performance benchmarks in diagnostic image analysis, some commentators have forecast the inevitable demise of radiologists and questioned the need for training new radiologists. It is plausible that machine learning will enable existing radiologists to handle more cases and then, as machine learning systems are able to work more autonomously, to transfer responsibility for diagnostic image analysis to non-radiologists supported by machine learning systems. Such reorientation of tasks would create an opportunity for health systems to recalibrate the skill mix of radiology teams and their distribution, with more tasks done at the primary care level and non-automatable work and rarer cases handled by a smaller number of radiologists at secondary and tertiary centers.” (Panch & Szolovits & Atun, 2017)
I believe the following databases will be the best to start with for my research.
- Computer Source – This database is focused on technology articles. I think that I will mostly find information here about what machine learning is and how it works.
- CINAHL – I think that this database will be helpful because it contains healthcare related articles. I think that I will find most of my information on how machine learning is used in healthcare here.
- Cochrane Library – I am hoping to find more instances of machine learning and the specifics of it being used in healthcare in this database.
References:
Panch, T., Szolovits, P., & Atun, R. (2018). Artificial intelligence, machine learning and health systems. Journal of Global Health, 8(2), 1–8. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/10.7189/jogh.08.020303
Machine Learning in Healthcare is a fascinating topic, there’s a huge potential to reduce human error, catch things that might otherwise be missed and overall improve the quality of care.
I’ve heard a bit about using machine learning to spot problem area, usually in radiology to identify cancerous regions or pre-cancerous regions that would otherwise be missed by a human.
One thing that I’d be interested to know more about is the current state of this technology is, and where / if it’s in use anywhere.
Heather, I think your topic about machine learning in healthcare is fascinating. I am glad that you found some databases where you can find good sources to answer your questions. I still need to find a solid database where I can use multiple sources for my research. I think you will have a somewhat difficult time finding the exact data that you need but I am sure you will find it. Great job.