Compassion Algorithm

Julia Adler-Milstein, PhD1; Jonathan H. Chen, MD, PhD; Gurpreet Dhaliwal, MD

Improving the diagnostic process is a quality and safety priority.With the digitization of health records and rapid expansion of health data, the cognitive demand on the diagnostician has increased. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist human cognition has the potential to reduce this demand and associated diagnostic errors. However, current AI tools have not realized this potential, due in part to the long-standing focus of these tools on predicting final diagnostic labels instead of helping clinicians navigate the dynamic refinement process of diagnosis. This Viewpoint highlights the importance of shifting the role of diagnostic AI from predicting labels to “wayfinding” (interpreting context and providing cues that guide the diagnostician).