National guidance aimed to help healthcare professionals in Ireland navigate Artificial Intelligence (AI) safely and responsibly must be clear, practical and inclusive to all healthcare providers, according to the Medical Protection Society (MPS).
In its response to the consultation on HIQA’s draft national guidance for the responsible and safe use of AI in the healthcare in Ireland, MPS welcomed the draft guidance and described it as “an important milestone”, but called on HIQA to ensure it is workable for a variety of healthcare settings - including smaller community‑based services and dental practices – and not just hospitals.
MPS - which protects the professional interests of over 16,000 healthcare professionals in Ireland – added that the guidance must be clear, concise and easy to follow, so busy healthcare professionals can easily identify the most important points.
It also called for the guidance to set out the need for mandatory training on AI tools, and tackle the issue of liability.
Dr Sarah Townley, Deputy Medical Director at Medical Protection said: “We welcome this draft guidance – it is an important milestone supporting healthcare professionals to navigate the fast-evolving and often uncertain AI landscape and having national guidance will set a clear standard for safe, ethical use of AI in healthcare.
“We believe it is important for the guidance to be concise and practical, and applicable to both individuals and organisations. Busy healthcare professionals will be looking to this document to understand what is expected of them, so the language must be clear and straightforward.
“The document must also reflect the diversity of settings covered by the scope of the guidance, and varying levels of knowledge on AI. We are keen to ensure the final document is not only useful for hospital settings but also that it is workable for other environments such as primary care, smaller community services and dental practices.
“Clinicians are already encountering new medicolegal challenges as AI becomes more deeply embedded in clinical practice. particularly around consent, accountability and the exercise of clinical judgement. This is why Medical Protection created the AI Safer Practice Framework to help them navigate these issues and make informed decisions about how they integrate AI into their work”.
“We will continue to work with HIQA on the development of this guidance and look forward to reviewing future versions.”
Click here to access Medical Protections submission to HIQA
Click here to access the Medical Protection AI Safer Practice Framework
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