Elsevier: Emerging Tech & Enhanced Patient-Centred Care

Founded in 1800 in Amsterdam, North Holland, Elsevier has witnessed the foundation of microbiology, the discovery of vaccines and the accidental invention of the X-ray. Now, the company supports researchers and healthcare professionals to advance scientific knowledge and improve healthcare outcomes for the benefit of society. 

Dr Ximena Alvira, joined Elsevier in 2012, observing in his lifetime, the rise of AI in healthcare. He is clear that AI must enhance, not replace the human hand of empathy.

Key components of delivering patient-centred care

Anthropologist Margaret Mead is said to have attributed a healed femur bone as the earliest sign of civilization, as it indicates that someone cared for the injured person, offered them protection and companionship until they were healed. Mead put forth that the act of compassion was the first sign of civilization.

In the digital age, Dr Ximena argues that empathy has not lost its power. 

“Empathy is essential to the delivery of patient-centred healthcare,” says Dr Ximena. “It's about being aware of and understanding our patients' emotions and feelings.” 

This awareness allows clinicians to establish trust and provide care that genuinely meets their needs. It is the foundation upon which healthcare providers can build compassionate care.

In following George Engel's biopsychosocial model, Dr Ximena argues that clinicians need to treat patients as whole people, considering not just their biological factors, but also psychological and contributing social determinants of health, such as cultural beliefs and access to healthcare.

However, there are challenges in maintaining patient-centred, empathetic care.

“Despite its importance, studies have shown a decline in empathy among healthcare professionals,” says Dr Ximena. 

Yet this isn't due to individual failings, but rather systemic issues, such as:

• Long working hours
• Understaffing
• Increased workloads 
• Pressure to meet operational targets. 

“These factors often leave clinicians with insufficient time to spend with patients, which can hinder our ability to provide empathetic care,” explains Dr Ximena. “Based on my experience, there are two key ways to overcome these challenges. First, we must prioritise empathy training, not just for clinicians, but for the entire interdisciplinary care team. By fostering a patient-first organisational culture, we can ensure that empathetic care is delivered consistently across the board. Second, we can leverage technology, particularly AI-powered tools, to help us navigate and overcome some of these barriers.”

How AI-powered tools can contribute to empathetic care

While AI can't replicate human empathy, it can certainly augment and facilitate more patient-centred care. Tools like ClinicalKey AI, for example, combine the ease of conversational search with data from multiple curated, evidence-based sources to help clinicians efficiently access clinical content. This allows clinicians to spend less time searching for information and more time focusing on their patients. 

It also provides contextually relevant information that aligns closely with the specific clinical scenarios, thereby improving diagnostic accuracy. This ensures that clinicians' decisions are not only based on the latest medical knowledge but also are tailored to their patient’s unique medical history, genetic information and current health status. This is crucial for providing high-quality, personalised care.

“Primary care serves as an excellent example of how AI might enhance empathetic care. In this setting, clinicians often struggle to balance high-quality care with efficiency demands,” Dr Ximena continues. “AI can alleviate this tension by handling time-consuming tasks such as processing and analysing patient images and searching through extensive medical databases to retrieve relevant studies and conduct literature reviews.” 

This frees clinicians to spend more time listening to their patients, understanding their concerns and developing care plans that address all aspects of their health – biological, psychological, cultural and social. 

“By doing so, clinicians can more effectively implement Engel's biopsychosocial model, which emphasises truly empathetic, patient-centred care,” adds Dr Ximena.

While Dr Ximena is optimistic about the potential of AI, it's important to remember that it's a tool to enhance healthcare’s capabilities, not replace human judgement or the human touch needed in healthcare. 

“We must ensure that AI is integrated thoughtfully, always keeping the focus on empathetic, patient-centred care,” says Dr Ximena. “The goal is to use AI to augment our human expertise and empathic capabilities, allowing clinicians to provide even better care to our patients.”

Dr Ximena believes that the future of healthcare lies in striking the right balance between human empathy and technological advancement. By investing in training and integrating AI-powered technologies, the healthcare sector can create a healthcare system that genuinely puts patients at the centre. 

“This combination of empathy skills and AI tools can help clinicians develop deeper connections with patients,” he shares. “This enables clinicians to understand their holistic health contexts and create personalised care plans that recognise patients as complex, multifaceted individuals rather than merely a constellation of signs and symptoms.” 

Ultimately, this approach has the potential to transform global healthcare organisations into truly caring institutions.

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