Providing exceptional patient care requires time and dedication, and your practice management software can be a valuable tool for scheduling, generating reports, and creating clinical notes.

Incorporating AI to assist you with patient care can help you create treatment plans, offer innovative ideas, and provide time-saving solutions without replacing your expert advice.

This is the first in a series where we explore how a variety of AI applications can help improve the standard of healthcare in your clinic.

⚗️ AI-Enhanced Treatment Formulation

AI can assist you with creating treatment plans for your patients, saving you time and allowing you to focus on educating them about their plans so that they fully understand the timeframes and outcomes.

Consider this scenario:

  • You are a Nutritionist, and you need to develop a healthy 30-day meal plan for your patient that is vegan, gluten-free and nut-free.

A plan like this may, generally speaking, take time to construct, but using large language model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini, a response can be generated in a matter of seconds.

With a prompt of:

  • “I am a nutritionist and need a healthy 30-day meal plan for a vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free person.”

In a matter of seconds, this is the first part of the answer that ChatGPT presented:

  • Sure! Here’s a 30-day meal plan for someone vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free. This plan includes a variety of nutrient-dense foods to ensure a well-balanced and healthy diet. Feel free to modify it based on specific dietary needs and preferences.
  • Week 1, Day 1:
    • Breakfast: Quinoa porridge with mixed berries and coconut milk.
    • Lunch: Chickpea salad with mixed vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers) and lemon-tahini dressing.
    • Snack: Rice cakes with avocado and cherry tomatoes.
    • Dinner: Roasted vegetable stir-fry with tofu and gluten-free tamari sauce.
    • Dessert: Fresh fruit salad.

The menu above is an example of what AI can generate in seconds. You can accept the response as-is or let it inspire your own prescription.

It’s important to remember that this is not a replacement for your professional experience and advice. The major benefit is that the AI models help encourage you with new ideas and inspire fresh thinking.

🤔 AI Inspiration for Allied Health

The table below looks at some of our other allied health professions and gives you a range of examples of how you can prompt AI to your advantage:

Profession Prompt Response
Speech Therapists I am a Speech Therapist. Give me 1 exercise for a patient struggling with the “SH” sound. Syllable Repetition Exercise:

  • “She Sells Sea Shells”: This classic tongue-twister provides an engaging way to practice the “SH” sound in syllables and words.
Mental Health Therapists I am a Mental Health Therapist. Give me an exercise for a patient struggling with anxiety. Five Senses Grounding Exercise:

  • Name 5 things you can see.
  • Name 4 things you can feel.
  • Name 3 things you can hear.
  • Name 2 things you can smell.
  • Name 1 thing you can taste.
Yoga Instructors I am a Yoga Instructor. Give me a yoga stretching exercise for a patient. Seated Forward Fold:

  • This stretch helps to release tension in the hamstrings, lower back, and spine while promoting relaxation.
Podiatrists I am a Podiatrist. Give me an arch-strengthening exercise for a patient. Short Foot Exercise:

  • This is a great way to strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the foot, including those that support the arch.
Physiotherapists I am a Physiotherapist. Give me an exercise for a patient with a sprained ankle. Ankle Alphabet:

  • The Ankle Alphabet exercise helps improve ankle mobility and range of motion while minimising stress on the injured ligaments.
Dieticians I am a Dietician. Give me a meal for a patient who needs more protein in their diet. Scrambled Eggs with Veggies:

  • 2-3 large eggs (or egg whites).
  • 1/2 cup of chopped bell peppers, onions, and spinach.
  • 1/4 cup of shredded cheese (such as feta or cheddar).
Chiropractors I am a Chiropractor. Give me exercises for a patient with lower back pain. Cat-Cow Stretch:

  • The Cat-Cow Stretch is a gentle yoga movement that helps improve flexibility and mobility in the spine while also providing relief to the lower back.
Occupational Therapists I am an Occupational Therapist. Give me an exercise for a patient who struggles to bend down. Sit-to-Stand Exercise:

  • This exercise helps improve leg strength and overall mobility, making it easier for the patient to transition from seated to standing.
Physical Therapists I am a Physical Therapist. Give me a leg strengthening exercise for a patient with sore calves. Seated Calf Raise:

  • This exercise effectively targets the calf muscles while providing support to reduce strain on the painful area.
Pilates Instructors I am a Pilates Instructor. Give me an exercise to tone my client’s arms. Tricep Dips:

  • Tricep dips are an effective Pilates exercise for targeting and toning the arms’ muscles, specifically the triceps.

🧓 The Sage Advice on AI

Lastly, two important considerations:

  • AI models make mistakes – so as a healthcare professional, it is crucial that you always carefully review and think critically about AI-generated content based on your expertise and your patients’ specific needs.
  • You must not enter sensitive personal, clinical, or patient information if you use publicly available AI tools. Most of these tools collect your input for review, analysis, and improving their service, so there is absolutely no guarantee that your data will remain private or secure.

🩺 AI’s Role in Elevating Patient Care

AI can be used in various ways, from assisting with patient treatment plans to helping you quickly complete treatment notes, and also to open a wider range of communication channels. As you continue exploring the use of AI, keep your patients’ well-being in mind.

Ensure your team is educated on the best practices for using AI and is open to learning as the technology improves. Ethical considerations and transparency must be maintained with your patients to establish trust and ensure you are all using AI responsibly.

Embracing these principles will help you leverage AI to enhance patient outcomes and deliver the highest standard of care.

💬 Join the Discussion

If we've interested, informed or inspired you with this article, we'd love you to share your thoughts and opinions with us in the comments section below.

Lizzie

About the Author

Lizzie

Lizzie is our witty worldwide web wordsmith who writes wise wordage while watching Wilton, her favourite family-friendly four-footed feline feebly fishing for food. She strings superbly sweet sentences, stopping swiftly short of superfluous saccharine speak such as "synergy".

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