The perception and Knowledge of Healthcare professionals towards the use of AI tools: A case from Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

In recent days, Artificial intelligence tools in healthcare are widely implemented around the world, this leads the healthcare professionals to face a new obstacle in their careers. This study aims to explore healthcare professionals’ perceptions and attitudes toward the use of AI tools in Saudi healthcare. The study is an attempt of systematic literature review, literature search was conducted by using google scholar, PubMed. An inclusion and exclusion criteria had been used to extract 14 relevant studies all based in Saudi Arabia and MMAT tool is used for assessing the quality. The findings indicates that Most of the studies reported the majority of healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia have the basic knowledge of AI. However, their knowledge and acceptance might be affected by some demographic and personal factors. Higher educational level and experience can be correlated with more understanding of AI but it does not necessary correlate with better acceptance of AI tools. The study also indicates that some specialists e.g., Radiologists are more threatened by the presence of AI compared the other specialists, and this might be due higher advancement of AI in their fields and the nature of their job. Furthermore, most of the studies reported that a considerable number of participants who have concerns of being replace by AI. lack of proper training was strongly noticed among the studies, and most participants are willing to improve their skills of using clinical AI. In conclusion, while there are a lot of optimistic views of clinical AI, lack of trust was strongly noticed among health professionals. A proper training and education are crucial to ensure the health professionals advancement in using clinical AI.