The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Emergency Medicine: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already become a revolutionary technology in healthcare and can bring a lot of potential to emergency medicine. As emergency departments are dynamic environments where the level of pressure and time sensitivity is high, it is important to learn how healthcare workers view the process of AI integration to introduce it safely and efficiently. Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of awareness among healthcare professionals, their perceived opportunities, perceived challenges, preparedness of the organization, and their future perspective regarding the implementation of AI in emergency medicine. Methods: The survey was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study of 250 professionals working in emergency departments, comprising of physicians, medical officers, nurses, paramedics, and hospital administrators. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data using a 5 point Likert scale. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, which involved frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Results: The level of awareness and knowledge about AI use in the emergency medical setting was high among the participants (mean = 4.11 ± 0.82). The perceived opportunities were strongly endorsed (mean overall = 4.15 ± 0.80) especially in terms of early detection of life-threatening conditions and the minimization of diagnostic errors. Perceived obstacles were also significant (overall mean = 4.10 ± 0.81), and data privacy issues, lack of training, and implementation expenses were found to be the main obstacles. The organizational readiness was average (mean = 3.68, standard deviation = 0.99). In spite of these issues, the respondent had a very positive perspective on the future (overall mean = 4.38 ± 0.62) and felt very willing to adopt the AI tools. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals acknowledge the high clinical and operational value of AI in emergency medicine, but successful deployment would demand enhanced organizational support, systematic training services, ethical protections, and enabling regulatory systems to foster sustainable and responsible implementation.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Emergency Medicine; Healthcare Professionals; Clinical Decision Support; Triage Systems; Diagnostic Accuracy; Organizational Readiness; Ethical Concerns; Data Privacy; Technology Adoption; Health Informatics; Healthcare Innovation.