Upholding “Do No Harm” in the Age of AI

“First, do no harm” is a core healthcare principle attributed to Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician who is considered by many to be the “father” of modern medicine. 

But as the demand for healthcare continues to increase in the face of ongoing clinician shortages, “do no harm” becomes an increasingly difficult goal. Gaps and delays in moving patients through their care can lead to patient safety issues. These safety issues can lead to further delays, causing a downward cycle. Rising patient volumes will make existing gaps worse, from surfacing safety risks, to communication and care team handoffs, to ensuring capacity to accommodate incoming patients. As the American Hospital Association writes, “Rising volumes will require a greater focus on managing patient flow and reducing emergency department (ED) bottlenecks as providers seek to reduce wait times for those needing beds.” 

Fortunately, the development of AI-based patient flow technologies is enabling provider organizations to uphold the “do no harm” principle by enhancing patient safety and care quality. These technologies streamline communication between departments with clinicians and providers, ensuring that critical information is conveyed in an accurate and timely manner to move patients through their care. 

Smoothing transitions

Patient flow technologies hardwire repeatable actions and make sure they’re done. These tools provide visualizations to help ensure users have the information they need to know what is happening with the patient and what steps they should take to get patients where they need to be. The clear guidelines and checklists provided by patient flow tools reduce the likelihood of delays and complications during patient handoffs by ensuring no critical details are overlooked.

By offering real-time data, alerts, and reminders, patient flow tools help surface and predict delays and bottlenecks, such as resource requirements and discharge orders. They also facilitate timely transitions of care, minimizing the risk of delays and complications during handoffs between different healthcare settings. Delays and gaps that can spark the downward cycle of patient safety issues and further delays. Receiving real-time insights and alerts for discrepancies in resource availability and patient safety foster a more collaborative and coordinated approach among healthcare providers. 

Data analytics within these platforms allow for continuous monitoring of patient progress, enabling proactive interventions when issues arise. Patient flow tools add a layer of intelligence that allows users to visualize what matters at the bed, unit, department, and facility levels of the health system related to safety. 

For example, how can a clinician in the unit know the right safety precautions are being observed elsewhere in the patient flow? And as you work your way up the hospital levels, is it clear whether the facility in aggregate is meeting or exceeding what needs to occur from a safety perspective? AI-based patient flow tools provide those answers. 

Keeping humans in the loop

A recent study showed AI outperforming physicians in diagnosing medical conditions, highlighting concerns that the technology eventually will replace human medical professionals. While AI is amazing, it’s highly unlikely that provider organizations will ever rely solely on machines to diagnose and treat patients. Human knowledge, experience, and insights drive outcomes in medicine.

In particular, the AI technology used in patient flow platforms does not make care decisions; rather, it focuses on the operational elements within a provider organization. AI within patient flow platforms is a helper and facilitator.

There also are fears that AI might overlook a vital piece of information in discharge notes or other EHR sources when compiling a summary for clinicians. Yet there’s arguably an equal or greater chance of a human glossing over important information in discharge notes that can be 80 pages in length. Further, as clinical data continues to grow, it literally will become impossible for a doctor or nurse to catalog that level of detail and refine it without spending hours on the task. AI can collect and organize information exponentially faster; there’s immense clinical and operational value in this to keep patients moving through their care. 

No matter how provider organizations deploy AI, it is ethically important that they are transparent about whether they are using the technology so a person can verify the information produced. Patients and clinicians have a right to know when AI is involved in generating content and offering recommendations regarding patient flow and safety. 

On the horizon

As patient flow platforms evolve, they will increasingly help providers prioritize patients’ care journeys, not just their admissions status. Hospitals and health systems can be overwhelmed by the number of patients crowding their emergency departments seeking treatment. Not only must clinicians and staff determine which patients should be treated first, they must coordinate with each other to ensure individual patients are routed to the right level of care, in the right setting, at the right time. 

Soon AI will be able to help inform those decisions by examining a broad range of related factors – such as a patient’s clinical condition, physical location, and resource availability – to offer recommendations that support real-time decision making.  Again, AI won’t be making decisions; instead it will help care teams understand why certain patients should move first and where they should go next.

Over the next few years, AI will play a critical role in resource planning and strategizing to effectively manage patient flow across the care continuum. Instead of merely gathering and organizing data, AI-driven patient flow tools will be able to anticipate care transitions, suggest appropriate next steps for individual patients, and guide future resource planning, enabling hospitals to deliver timely, coordinated, and patient-centered care.

Health system administrators will be able to rely on AI to deliver daily, system-wide safety insights via email. These daily summaries won’t just highlight areas of concern, they’ll equip leaders with key questions to ask in huddles and meetings to help guide meaningful, real-time decisions. By identifying safety risks early and aligning with care teams, AI becomes a powerful tool for maintaining patient flow and preventing unnecessary care delays.

For example, if AI detects potential safety risks by synthesizing markers leading to sepsis or delirium, leaders and staff could be alerted to patients needing attention before a safety issue arises. Further, AI can aggregate these scenarios across the health system and suggest where to allocate resources, or move patients across units or facilities to better meet their clinical needs. This type of insight ensures administrators are focused not just on throughput, but on safe, strategic patient movement across the continuum.

Additionally, this safety intelligence directly supports daily safety huddles and multidisciplinary rounds by identifying issues in advance and enabling improved communication across departments and shifts. When hospitals address these barriers early, they can reduce safety-related delays that often contribute to longer stays. Just as important, they can prevent those extended stays from creating new safety risks. AI plays a key role here, not by simply offering data, but by helping leaders turn safety insights into actionable decisions that protect capacity, ease care transitions, and move patients safely and effectively through their acute journey.

A path forward for patient-centric care

The principle of “do no harm” has guided healthcare for centuries, yet modern challenges like clinician shortages and rising patient demands challenge this ideal. AI-based patient flow technologies are emerging as vital tools to help providers address these challenges and maintain high standards of care by streamlining operations, improving transparency and communications, and enhancing safety.

However, the integration of AI must be handled transparently and ethically, ensuring that human expertise remains central to decision-making. As these tools continue to evolve, they promise to empower clinicians and administrators with actionable insights, improve patient outcomes, and create more resilient healthcare systems. While AI cannot replace the human touch, it can augment it, helping providers meet the growing demands of modern healthcare while staying true to the timeless mission of “do no harm.”

Picture: Yuichiro Chino, Getty Images

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