The opening Grand Round session at the National Association of EMS Physicians 2024 Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, featured Dr. Freddy Lippert, MD, CEO of the Copenhagen EMS in Denmark.
International Chief Medical Officer at Falck Healthcare, Dr. Lippert is a founding member of the global resuscitation alliance and has over 25 years of experience in emergency patient care, and has published more than 200 scientific publications.
In his engaging opening session before an auditorium of over 1,500 attendees, Dr. Lippert identified that healthcare systems are facing significant challenges necessitating a fundamental shift in how we deliver healthcare to meet the evolving needs of our communities around the clock. He noted that technology – particularly data – plays a crucial role in this transformation. As EMS systems, we gather and have access to vast amounts of data. It is our responsibility to utilize this data to enhance patient care. By integrating our data with emerging technology, we can not only reduce manual workload, but also empower our staff to devise optimal solutions for individual patients.
Dr. Lippert’s key point identified that artificial intelligence brackets (AI) are now the game changer for many professions, including EMS. AI holds the potential to be utilized in clinical settings for dispatch, decision support, risk assessment and outcome prediction.
Dr. Lippert shared how Copenhagen EMS uses AI to monitor calls coming into the PSAP to interrogate the conversation to flag issues. Copenhagen EMS’s dispatch use of AI to identify cardiac problems is a prime example of how this technology can be used to help our practice and save lives.
To be true to the spirit of the presentation, all that is written above was crafted by the human author, all that is written below, was crafted by AI after I fed the transcript of the Grand Rounds session into it.
Dr. Lippert delved into the remarkable capabilities and evolving landscape of AI. The presentation not only showcased the feats achieved by AI but also raised thought-provoking questions about its implementation, ethical considerations, and potential impact on EMS.
Following are Dr. Lippert’s key points.
Exposing AI to varied situations. Dr. Lippert began by emphasizing the importance of exposing AI to diverse situations for optimal learning. Drawing parallels with recognizing a cake or a dog, Dr. Lippert explained that AI learns, adapts and improves with feedback and a wealth of data. This laid the foundation for understanding the significance of pattern recognition, a fundamental aspect of artificial intelligence.
AI in clinical practice. A significant portion of the presentation focused on the increasing trend of AI in clinical practice, with statistics highlighting the surge in publications. China emerged as a leader in AI research, particularly in cardiac arrest studies.
Concerns and considerations. As with any groundbreaking technology, the lecture addressed various concerns surrounding AI. Trust, privacy, biases, ethics and transparency were discussed in detail. Dr. Lippert emphasized the need for caution and awareness, particularly in areas where AI might inadvertently introduce or perpetuate biases.
Implementation challenges in EMS. The application of new technologies in EMS was a key theme. Dr. Lippert highlighted the slow adoption of video streaming in dispatch, despite being an established technology. This raised questions about the challenges faced in implementing cutting-edge AI solutions in real-world EMS scenarios.
Future applications of AI. The lecture concluded with a glimpse into the potential future applications of AI in emergency medical services. Decision support, faster and more accurate decision-making, predictive analysis and real-time guidance were identified as key areas where AI could significantly benefit EMS. Dr. Lippert envisioned a future in which AI could play a vital role in optimizing resource allocation, remote monitoring and natural language processing for better patient care.
Insights from a TEDx Talk. The presentation was enriched by snippets from a TEDx talk, in which an AI-generated speaker showcased the vast capabilities of generative AI. The TEDx talk highlighted autonomous driving, language translation, music composition and various other skills that AI has mastered. This provided a captivating glimpse into the potential applications of AI in diverse fields.
Conclusion
Dr. Lippert’s artificial intelligence lecture offered a comprehensive exploration of the present and future of AI. From understanding its learning mechanisms and recognizing patterns, to addressing concerns and envisioning future applications in EMS, the lecture provided a holistic perspective. As we stand on the cusp of a new era propelled by AI, the challenge remains in responsibly harnessing its power for the greater good of humanity.
Back to Rob:
The chat report still hasn’t quite mastered the “Robisms” of my own writing style, but Dr. Lippert’s session highlighted the debate that is currently ongoing in the profession as to how far we allow AI to infiltrate our daily practice.
The next and more widely spread use of AI in our daily practice is likely the use of chat and voice recognition functionality to chart the patient encounter and produce a comprehensive patient care record.
Dr. Lippert’s thought-provoking session concluded that we cannot predict the future, but AI has definitely arrived, it has huge potential to improve care and EMS; but we need to balance benefits and disadvantages. Without a doubt, AI will change EMS and we will change because of AI. However, we must remain cognizant of AI biases and concentrate on implementation, particularly the interaction between AI and humans to achieve the best results.
This article was prepared by one human, the voice of Dr. Freddy Lippert, TEMI voice transcription, ChatGPT, Microsoft Editor and Grammarly.
EMS1 is using generative AI to create some content that is edited and fact-checked by our editors.
