“More profound than fire.” One may not agree with this description of artificial intelligence (AI) from Google CEO Sundar Pichai—but hyperbole notwithstanding, it is clear that AI is an important development in our world today.
AI is the sector of computer science that creates programs capable of performing tasks that previously required human intelligence. Systems incorporating AI can independently analyze data, solve problems, make decisions, and learn from those experiences. While most current AI systems complete narrowly defined tasks (such as calculating a specific type of prediction), the field is advancing toward systems that can handle many more types of tasks. In the future, developments may bring about artificial general intelligence, which will more closely mimic the abilities of humans.
Even as we contemplate the impact of such sweeping innovations, surgery is incorporating many of the currently available AI programs into tasks ranging from clinical notetaking to robotic laparoscopies. The ACS endeavors to aid all members to thrive in an AI-enhanced environment.
This spring, we were fortunate to bring on Genevieve Melton-Meaux, MD, PhD, FACS, FACMI, as the ACS’s inaugural Chief Health Informatics Officer. She is a practicing colorectal surgeon, senior associate dean of health informatics and data science, director of the Center for Learning Health System Sciences, and a core faculty member in the Institute for Health Informatics at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Dr. Melton-Meaux also has been a Fellow of the ACS since 2010 and moderated an engaging session on AI at the April 2024 ACS Leadership & Advocacy Summit.
Her career in informatics has spanned the last 2 decades, during which she has helped healthcare organizations embrace universal electronic health records and become data-driven entities. She is an extraordinary expert, and I am thrilled to have her facilitate our entry to the present era of health informatics.
This effort builds on existing strengths. Emerging AI transformations are built atop big data, and the College and big data have been integrated for as long as that term has existed. For example, the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program has been a part of the ACS for 20 years and currently captures data in approximately 700 hospitals, including 140 across Canada, Australia, and other countries. The ACS National Cancer Data Base, which started in 1989, gathers data from the 1.4 million patients treated each year in US healthcare centers accredited by the ACS Commission on Cancer. Across all our Quality Programs, the ACS holds data on more than 50 million patients—and this continues to grow.
This means that, as AI changes healthcare, the ACS is poised to play a significant role in how AI is incorporated into data collection for quality improvement and verification programs.
To date, we have only permitted minimal use of our data to facilitate machine learning, and only with appropriate protections. Rather, the College’s current work is focused on explorations of optimal future use. With Dr. Melton-Meaux’s help, we are examining how to improve our data collection processes, offer better real-time feedback in clinical settings, and help healthcare centers (particularly small and rural hospitals) access our Quality Programs. The overarching concerns are broad and timeless: to determine how to best improve our enterprise and serve all surgeons.
Because the ACS is one of the largest surgical organizations in the world, we also strive to present innovative research and education on AI in surgery.
Since 2023, we have offered “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Transforming Surgical Practice and Education,” an online course available to all surgeons. In addition, a late-breaking session on AI has been added to Clinical Congress 2024, complementing the more than two dozen AI-related studies that researchers will present in panel and poster sessions. If you are a surgeon interested in these areas, I strongly recommend registering for both the AI course and Clinical Congress.
The ACS also plans to champion surgical excellence through improved programs and policy efforts as AI raises complex social, regulatory, and quality issues in healthcare. This includes using Dr. Melton-Meaux’s wisdom to inform negotiations for updated AI-inclusive contracts, and collaborations with ACS Chief Information Officer Jack King, who has greatly enhanced our cybersecurity posture over the last year. His team works diligently to help ensure all ACS data on patients, healthcare systems, and surgeons are safe from AI-enhanced cyberattacks.
Is AI more profound a change than the advent of human-controlled fire? No. Dr. Melton-Meaux has suggested that AI will not radically alter surgery in the near term—but it may facilitate more planful, more effective, less invasive, and less morbid procedures. While we cannot claim to know exactly what the future will hold, the ACS will always work toward fulfilling the aim set forth in our motto. Indeed, it is the most profound idea for us as surgeons: “to heal all with skill and trust.”
Learn More at Clinical Congress
One way to learn more about AI and other advances in surgery is to attend Clinical Congress, where presenters will share their evidence-based insights. Register now at facs.org/clincon2024 to attend in person or virtually and view content on demand.
