Keeping the human in the loop with healthcare AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) has started changing how healthcare organisations operate. From managing patient records to assisting with diagnostics, AI is offering a powerful way to improve efficiency and reduce administrative burdens. However, as this technology becomes more integrated into clinical workflows, a critical question emerges: how are we balancing AI and human connection in healthcare?

While some solutions boast of complete automation in healthcare, and while we can technically remove humans from many IT workflows, this approach overlooks the fundamental need for human judgement to make the final call. So, we’re exploring why keeping human in the loop in healthcare is essential for patient safety, clinical accuracy, and ethical practice.

The growing role of AI in healthcare

Healthcare professionals face an overwhelming amount of administrative work. And as demand for care increases, so does this admin burden. Managing incoming documents, coding clinical information, and ensuring data accuracy, while necessary, often takes valuable time away from patient care. But AI has presented a significant opportunity to streamline these tasks.

AI-powered healthcare tools can analyse vast amounts of information in seconds, identifying patterns and flagging important details that might otherwise be missed by busy and overstretched healthcare professionals. And by automating repetitive tasks, AI can both boost consistency and efficiency, while also freeing up your team to focus on more complex, patient-facing responsibilities.

Read our blog ‘The Evolving Landscape: AI and the Future of Patient Care’ for more information.

What does ‘human in the loop’ mean in healthcare AI?

The term ‘human in the loop’ in healthcare AI describes a collaborative partnership where technology assists professionals rather than replacing them. It means that while AI can handle tasks like summarising documents, supporting diagnoses, or suggesting clinical codes, a qualified person always makes the final decision.

This approach combines the speed and accuracy of AI with the essential context and ethical judgement that only a human can provide. And by keeping your team in control, you ensure that every action is validated, maintaining patient safety, clear accountability, and the highest standards of care.

Human-on-the-loop

In this model, the system runs more autonomously, but you stay in the supervisory seat. The AI carries out tasks on its own, while a human monitors the process and steps in immediately if errors occur.

Human-out-of-the-loop

This level involves AI operating entirely independently without any direct human oversight. The system executes tasks from start to finish. While rarely used for critical clinical decisions due to safety risks, you might encounter this in high-volume administrative areas where speed and efficiency are the primary goals.

What happens when humans are removed from healthcare AI decisions?

AI and its role in the health sector demands a conversation around AI automation in healthcare. While appealing on the surface, removing human oversight from clinical processes introduces significant risks. An AI algorithm, no matter how advanced, lacks the contextual understanding, intuition, and ethical compass of a trained healthcare professional.

And while AI agents intelligently add automation to often complex workflows, AI isn’t perfect. Without a human to review and validate its outputs, mistakes could slip through, potentially compromising patient safety and eroding trust in the system. The final accountability for patient care must always rest with qualified people.

Yet, by taking the human out of the loop, organisations could eliminate ‘alert fatigue’, reduce burnout and combat shift changes because the system can work 24/7, and achieve faster diagnostics.

The benefits of keeping a human in the loop in healthcare

Balancing AI and human connection in healthcare must remain front and centre. Because when we champion a human-in-the-loop approach, it combines the strengths of AI with the irreplaceable expertise of healthcare professionals. And by doing so, it ensures that technology serves as a powerful assistant, not an unsupervised decision-maker.

Here are the key benefits of this balanced approach:

• Enhanced clinical safety: When a human reviews AI suggestions, there is a crucial safety net. Professionals can catch potential errors or hallucinations, validate information against their clinical knowledge, and ensure every decision is appropriate for the specific patient context.

• Greater accountability and trust: When your team has the final say, accountability remains clear. This fosters confidence among staff and patients, ensuring that technology is used responsibly and that decisions are made by qualified individuals.

• Nuanced decision-making: Healthcare is rarely black and white. A human can interpret subtleties, understand patient history, and apply clinical judgement in ways that a generic AI tool cannot. This ensures that care remains personalised, removing bias, and context-aware.

How human in the loop AI supports healthcare teams

Recognising the need for a collaborative system, GP Workflow Assistant (Docman AI) was designed to empower healthcare professionals, not replace them. Our solution acts as a supportive partner, enhancing your team's capabilities while keeping them firmly in control of the decision-making process.

GP Workflow Assistant supports document-handling workflows, without independently replacing clinical judgement. It helps your team by:

• Summarising incoming documents: It quickly scans and pulls out the essential information from letters and reports, saving valuable reading time.

• Identifying key information: The AI highlights diagnoses, medications, and potential actions, ensuring nothing important is overlooked.

• Suggesting SNOMED codes: Based on the content of a document, it proposes relevant SNOMED codes to support consistent and accurate clinical coding.

Crucially, every summary, action, and code suggested by GP Workflow Assistant requires review and confirmation by a member of your staff. Having this human-in-the-loop approach acts as a critical safety net, helping to ensure important details are not missed while supporting consistent document handling across the team.

Plus, we continuously improve our AI in line with national standards and clinical safety requirements. That way, you benefit from a constantly evolving, user-friendly tool that remains aligned with the highest standards of care, allowing your team to work with confidence.

A partnership for safer, more efficient healthcare

AI in healthcare holds immense opportunity, but its success depends on a thoughtful and responsible approach. Balancing AI and human connection in healthcare is key to ensuring patient safety and accountability.

Dee Turner, Practice Business Manager at New Islington Practice introduced GP Workflow Assistant and said “Docman is something I inherited, and these products are things that I chose, and I chose them because I genuinely believe in the products.”

The future of healthcare technology lies in a partnership between humans and AI. By keeping a human in the loop in healthcare, we can support safe adoption of AI in primary care, harnessing the efficiency of added automation while preserving the critical judgement and ethical oversight that only trained professionals can provide.

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Discover more about the real-world impact of our AI in this exclusive AI in GP Workflow Report.