Views from the Frontlines: Physician Perspectives on the use of AI in Behavioral Health
Thursday, October 12, 2023
4:00 PM – 5:15 PM ET
Location: Falkland (Fourth Floor)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for behavioral health have grown in popularity amid systemic personnel and resource shortages impacting access to conventional care. While these technologies are well positioned to fill major gaps in behavioral health systems, little is known about how practitioners expect AI tools to impact clinical practice. We present on an empirical bioethics study involving interviews with physicians at the frontlines of behavioral health (family medicine practitioners and psychiatrists) regarding their perspectives toward digital psychiatry tools. Our findings suggest that physicians are cautiously optimistic about the integration of AI tools noting their potential to both benefit and harm patients, physicians, and health systems. Physicians discussed the potential for AI to change the scope of clinical practice with varied opinions on how general practitioners may be augmented to treat mental health concerns beyond their typical training as well as their professional identity in light of AI recommendation capabilities. Participants also projected changes in the conventional therapeutic alliance, noting potential for technologies to influence emotional relationships, authority dynamics, and shared-decisionmaking conversations. Lastly, physicians commented on their receptivity to adopting digital psychiatry tools as well as their expectations for transparency and governance prior to integrating these tools into their practices. Cumulatively, our findings call attention to the importance of creating space for physician perspectives in the design and adoption of digital psychiatry tools and healthcare AI.
Susan Curtis, MLIS – Biomedical Ethics Research – Mayo Clinic; Isabel Weir – Human Biology – University of Virginia; Jeremiah Stout – Biomedical Ethics Research – Mayo Clinic; Joel Pacyna – Biomedical Ethics Research – Mayo Clinic; Journey Wise – Biomedical Ethics Research – Mayo Clinic; Barbara Barry, PhD – Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery – Mayo Clinic; Arjun Athreya, PhD, MS – Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics – Mayo Clinic; William Bobo, MD, MPH – Psychiatry – Mayo Clinic; Richard Sharp, PhD – Biomedical Ethics Research – Mayo Clinic