A recent Wall Street Journal article describes how one of the largest hospital chains is utilizing artificial intelligence to predict which of their patients are at the highest risk of developing sepsis. Using artificial intelligence allows early signs of sepsis to be discovered enabling intervention that is effective. This comes at a time where many nurses and doctors are asked to do more with less time and resources.

In this example, artificial intelligence means computer algorithms sifting through piles of medical records searching for patterns that indicate a patient is at risk for developing a serious infection.

This does not attempt to diagnose a patient, it only directs nurses and doctors to turn their attention to a particular patient to examine them for signs of a worsening condition. Early findings have found this to be effective at identifying cases of sepsis with time for intervention and care.

This is an example of a very exciting collaboration between humans and machines. This is a perfect example of computers doing what they do best, which is sifting through vast quantities of data, and humans doing what they do best, using their training, insight, and problem-solving ability to make educated and measured responses to information presented to them.

Artificial intelligence is able to enable humans to do more. Data-driven decisions can only be made when humans 1) have data that is 2) in an understandable format. Hundreds of thousands of data points are useless if a person can’t decipher the patterns or insights they describe.

Oli enables you to do more with your data. Let Oli help you make better decisions with better information.