Artificial intelligence in acute care: A systematic review, conceptual synthesis, and research agenda

Lea Mareen Meyer, Susan Stead, Torsten Oliver Salge and David Antons

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2024, vol. 206, issue C

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a promising healthcare technology. Especially in critical, data-driven, and complex environments such as acute care, the use of AI can significantly improve treatment processes and support clinical staff. To date, AI applications in healthcare are scarce. Research remains fragmented across individual applications. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic literature review. In this review, we map the status quo of AI research in acute care and use service-dominant logic (SDL) from service science as a framework to integrate our analysis. Using a multilayered lens, we (1) identify intended beneficiaries of AI, (2) identify relevant activities supported by AI, and (3) determine those steps of the patient journey that have been in the spotlight for AI research. Our findings suggest that researchers have focused on hospital staff members as intended beneficiaries during the first three steps of the patient journey: admission, diagnosis, and treatment. The patient's perspective, however, remains underexplored. Moreover, 96 % of the research papers we reviewed focus on AI development and proof-of-concept studies, while only 4 % employ and test AI applications in the field. We identify three priorities for future AI research in acute care and provide suitable research methods.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Healthcare; Service-dominant logic; Patient journey; Systematic literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:206:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524003640

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123568

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