The rise of AI will transform the role of doctors, claims Professor of Intensive Care Medicine Sesmu Arbous. Her academic chair focuses on integrating technology into patient care. 'If we do it right, doctors will have more time for patients.'
'Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.' Semsu Arbous will begin her inaugural lecture with the opening lines from Dante's Divina Commedia (1321), a copy of which was a gift from her parents when she qualified as a doctor.
She now sees a similar sense of disorientation in healthcare. We are standing at a crossroads, she explains, in a complex journey, and we need to integrate AI in a responsible and meaningful way. She points to the challenges: an ageing population, a shrinking healthcare workforce, rising costs and on the other hand, an explosion of data and rapid technological advances.
Arbous has worked at the LUMC for over 20 years and was appointed Professor of Intensive Care Medicine last year. 'A tremendous honour - the crowning glory of my career'
Understanding health and disease
Though she'd never say it herself, Semsu Arbous is a real powerhouse. She works in the ICU as an anaesthesiologist-intensivist, is a clinical epidemiologist, is the director of the Master's in Technical Medicine and taught intensive care medicine for years. She wanted to be a doctor from an early age, driven by a desire to understand the human body, health and disease. Her name comes from her Chinese and French grandfather.
In her inaugural lecture, she imagines herself as a doctor standing in the ICU doorway, looking at a patient. 'Medicine had changed drastically since she was a student. AI was everywhere: in diagnostics, monitoring, therapeutic advice and administrative processes. And yet, she barely understood the patient any better than 20 years ago. Intuition and experience were still more important than anyone dared to admit.'
Communication and meditation
When Arbous is on duty as an intensivist at the ICU in the LUMC and gets a call in the middle of the night about a deteriorating patient, she uses the minute it takes to get there to think through what needs to happen, like who will manage the ventilation. It may sound like a cliché, but at such moments, good communication and teamwork are essential to achieving the best outcome, she explains. Her PhD focused on quality and safety in anaesthesiology. In the ICU, a single patient requires around 200 procedures and 240 clinical decisions every day. Arbous handles it all with apparent ease - perhaps thanks to her daily meditation practice.
Working in intensive care during the pandemic, she witnessed immense suffering. 'It was an intensive time; everything was magnified.' But she also learned a great deal. Many patients continue to struggle with health issues after leaving intensive care was one insight. She is now leading a pioneering European project on these 'ICU survivors', whose symptoms are poorly understood. Some now wear wristbands to monitor their heart rate, blood pressure and the number of steps they take.
Turning data into wisdom
'I'm actually a bit of a nerd', Arbous admits. 'I love data and turning vast amounts of it into knowledge and then into wisdom.' But, she adds, 'We shouldn't embrace just any new technology or algorithm. What matters is whether it's useful and effective for the patient.' That's why interdisciplinarity is crucial, she says. No single profession can keep up with the pace of change alone.
Technology should make healthcare more efficient and more personal. Arbous believes that would transform the role of doctors. 'It doesn't have to be a negative change. If we do it right, doctors and other healthcare providers will have more time at the bedside -and more time for compassion.'
