Article Figures & Data
Tables
Point: Exemplar problem(s) AI solution Increasing trust Patients trust us less now than ever before Create and disseminate tools that improve communication and increase trust Enabling decision making and care Patients don’t always understand our instructions Create and disseminate patient education tools in the language and medium that the patient prefers Patients are overwhelmed with multiple chronic and complex conditions Create tools to help patients manage diabetes, mental conditions, and interactions. Patients have difficulty obtaining the services they need, even when they are insured AI can streamline and facilitate the process of prior authorization and eliminate other barriers to care Many diseases are preventable yet increasing in prevalence Harness the power of AI to encourage the behavioral changes necessary to prevent hypertension, diabetes, and obesity Patient support systems often determine what interventions are recommended AI can examine the record for contextual considerations and have that information available for the patient encounter Access Medicine has excluded entire groups of people Create and disseminate tools that help us reach the forgotten, the lonely, the marginalized, etc Telehealth and self-management Managing chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, etc requires significant self-monitoring Use AI to assist patients with self-management Innovation management Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is available, but clinicians and patients have not fully embraced its use AI can create tools, training, and helpful reading of POCUS to assist us in bedside care Socio-technical-familial care support ecosystem complexity1 AI scribes as collaborators to efficiently avert adverse interactions, optimize health-promotion synergies, and integrate these increasingly complex systems into holistic care frameworks AI = artificial intelligence; POCUS = point-of-care ultrasound.
Additional Files
PLAIN-LANGUAGE SUMMARY
Editorial
How AI Could Transform Family Medicine—If Used Wisely
Background:The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into family medicine presents significant opportunities to improve patient care and physician workflow. This editorial, written by Annals of Family Medicine associate editors, urges family physicians to articulate a vision of what they want from AI and make it into something that serves them and their patients.
Editorial Stance:The authors argue for a targeted approach to AI in family medicine, emphasizing tools that reduce administrative burdens and improve the physician-patient relationship. They advocate for AI-driven solutions like automated note-taking, multilingual patient communication, and streamlined care coordination. They caution against developing redundant diagnostic tools and risk calculators.
Why It Matters: AI has the potential to alleviate many pain points in family medicine, from reducing documentation tasks to creating accessible patient education tools. Thoughtful application of AI can restore joy in practice and help family physicians focus on their core mission: delivering compassionate, patient-centered care.
The AI Moonshot: What We Need and What We Do Not
José E. Rodríguez, MD, FAAP
Department of Family & Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Yves Lussier, MD, FACMI
Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
PLAIN-LANGUAGE SUMMARY
Editorial
How AI Could Transform Family Medicine—If Used Wisely
Background: The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into family medicine presents significant opportunities to improve patient care and physician workflow. This editorial, written by Annals of Family Medicine associate editors, urges family physicians to articulate a vision of what they want from AI and make it into something that serves them and their patients.
Editorial Stance: The authors argue for a targeted approach to AI in family medicine, emphasizing tools that reduce administrative burdens and improve the physician-patient relationship. They advocate for AI-driven solutions like automated note-taking, multilingual patient communication, and streamlined care coordination. They caution against developing redundant diagnostic tools and risk calculators.
Why It Matters:AI has the potential to alleviate many pain points in family medicine, from reducing documentation tasks to creating accessible patient education tools. Thoughtful application of AI can restore joy in practice and help family physicians focus on their core mission: delivering compassionate, patient-centered care.
The AI Moonshot: What We Need and What We Do Not
José E. Rodríguez, MD, FAAP
Department of Family & Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Yves Lussier, MD, FACMI
Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
