in content lists or on the content page.AI in social and health services
Greater use of artificial intelligence can provide ways to deliver social and health services better and more efficiently. Sitra’s projects are testing the use of AI in social and health services in two wellbeing services counties in Finland.
What is it about?
Social services are beset by a number of challenges, including labour shortages, cost pressures and poor access to services. In principle, AI can have a positive impact on all these issues.
We are running three pilots with two wellbeing services counties to test the use of AI in social and health services. A particular focus of the projects is whether they can deliver cost savings.
The pilots will focus on two of the wellbeing services counties’ roles: patient record keeping and supporting the functional capacity of older people. AI will be applied to both, partly using existing products.
Ongoing projects
Using AI to record patient data
Medical record keeping is a manual task that has long been attempted to be automated. It takes up a significant amount of doctors’ and nurses’ time, reducing the amount of time spent on actual care.
Automation has already been able to replace some of this work. For example, transcribing dictation no longer requires the current number of staff. AI can take this further and, in the future, patient information could be automatically entered into healthcare systems.
The pilot will test the use of AI to record patient data in two wellbeing services counties, North Ostrobothnia (Pohde) and Kanta-Häme (Oma Häme). The pilot in Pohde will be implemented within Esko Systems’ patient register system, while the pilot in Oma Häme will use an existing AI product to record patient information.
The projects will gather experiences of implementing AI solutions in social and health services and, to some extent, of their use. The projects will end in December 2024.
Project implemented by:
Wellbeing services county of North Ostrobothnia (Pohde)
contact: Heikki Mikkonen, Manager of Digital Services, firstname.lastname (at) pohde.fi
Wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme
contact: Katja Antikainen, Chief Data Officer,
firstname.lastname (at) omahame.fi
Wellbeing services county of Western Uusimaa
contact: Johan Sanmark, Director of research, development and innovation, firstname.lastname (at) luvn.fi
Using AI to promote the functional capacity of older people
Unforeseen events that affect the health of older people, such as falls, various pain conditions and a decline in social functioning, are situations that place a burden on both the patient and the social and healthcare system.
AI can be used to make predictions about anticipated events to support professionals’ decision-making. Predictions can help professionals to change treatment to prevent, for example, a decline in capacity or a fall.
The project will gather experiences of implementing AI solutions in social and health services and, to some extent, of their use. The project will end in December 2024.
Project implemented by:
Wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme
contact: Katja Antikainen, Chief Data Officer,
firstname.lastname (at) omahame.fi
