Attitudes of Medical Workers Toward Artificial Intelligence in Ophthalmology: A Comparative Survey (Preprint)
Authors: Yang Weihua , Zheng Bo , Wu Maonian , Zhu Shaojun , Zhou Hongxia , Hao Xiulan , Fei Fangqin , Jia Yun , Wu Jian , Pan Xueping 
Published: February 2020

BACKGROUND

Artificial intelligence (AI) is widely applied in the medical field, especially in ophthalmology. In the development of ophthalmic artificial intelligence, some problems worthy of attention have gradually emerged, among which the ophthalmic AI-related recognition issues are particularly prominent. That is to say, currently, there is a lack of research into people's familiarity with and their attitudes toward ophthalmic AI.

OBJECTIVE

This survey aims to assess medical workers’ and other professional technicians’ familiarity with AI, as well as their attitudes toward and concerns of ophthalmic AI.

METHODS

An electronic questionnaire was designed through the Questionnaire Star APP, an online survey software and questionnaire tool, and was sent to relevant professional workers through Wechat, China’s version of Facebook or WhatsApp. The participation was based on a voluntary and anonymous principle. The questionnaire mainly consisted of four parts, namely the participant’s background, the participant's basic understanding of AI, the participant's attitude toward AI, and the participant's concerns about AI. A total of 562 participants were counted, with 562 valid questionnaires returned. The results of the questionnaires are displayed in an Excel 2003 form.

RESULTS

A total of 562 professional workers completed the questionnaire, of whom 291 were medical workers and 271 were other professional technicians. About 37.9% of the participants understood AI, and 31.67% understood ophthalmic AI. The percentages of people who understood ophthalmic AI among medical workers and other professional technicians were about 42.61% and 15.6%, respectively. About 66.01% of the participants thought that ophthalmic AI would partly replace doctors, with about 59.07% still having a relatively high acceptance level of ophthalmic AI. Meanwhile, among those with ophthalmic AI application experiences (30.6%), respectively about 84.25% of medical professionals and 73.33% of other professional technicians held a full acceptance attitude toward ophthalmic AI. The participants expressed concerns that ophthalmic AI might bring about issues such as the unclear definition of medical responsibilities, the difficulty of ensuring service quality, and the medical ethics risks. And among the medical workers and other professional technicians who understood ophthalmic AI, 98.39%, and 95.24%, respectively, said that there was a need to increase the study of medical ethics issues in the ophthalmic AI field.

CONCLUSIONS

Analysis of the questionnaire results shows that the medical workers have a higher understanding level of ophthalmic AI than other professional technicians, making it necessary to popularize ophthalmic AI education among other professional technicians. Most of the participants did not have any experience in ophthalmic AI, but generally had a relatively high acceptance level of ophthalmic AI, believing that doctors would partly be replaced by it and that there was a need to strengthen research into medical ethics issues of the field.