Advances in Medical Education and Practice (Apr 2024)
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Toward Artificial Intelligence Among Healthcare Workers in Private Polyclinics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Suhail Hasan Surbaya,1,* Adeel Ahmed Khan,2,* Saud Hasan Surbaya,3,* Safar Majhood Alzahrani4,* 1Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Saudi Board Program of Preventive Medicine, Makkah Healthcare Cluster, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Inter-Professional Training Director Administration, Makkah Healthcare Cluster, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 4Inter-professional Training Administration, Makkah Healthcare Cluster, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Adeel Ahmed Khan, Saudi Board Program of Preventive Medicine, Makkah Healthcare Cluster, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tel +966-582265945, Fax +966-122366014, Email [email protected]: The objective of our study was to assess awareness, attitudes, and practices regarding artificial intelligence (AI) among healthcare workers in private polyclinics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Methods: We conducted cross-sectional study among healthcare workers in private clinics in Jeddah. Data was collected using a structured, validated questionnaire in Arabic and English on awareness, attitudes, and behaviors regarding AI. Cronbach’s alpha for the questionnaire ranged from 0.6 to 0.8. Descriptive and bivariate analysis was done to assess the scores and their association of various sociodemographic variables with awareness, attitudes, and behaviors regarding AI. Multiple linear regression was performed to predict the scores of awareness, attitudes, and behaviors based on the sociodemographic variables.Results: We recruited 361 participants for this study. Approximately, 62% of the healthcare workers were female. The majority (36%) of healthcare workers were nurses, while 25% were physicians. The median awareness, attitude, and behavioral scores were 5/6 (IQR 3– 6), 5/8 (IQR 4– 7), and 0/3 (IQR 0), respectively. Approximately three-fourths (74%) of the healthcare workers believed that they understood the basic computational principles of AI. Only half of the participants were willing to use AI when making future medical decisions. We found that male healthcare workers had better knowledge scores regarding AI as compared to female healthcare workers (Beta = 0.555, 95%, p value = 0.010), while for attitude scores, being administrative employee as compared to other employees was found to have negative attitude towards AI (Beta = 0.049, 95%, p value = 0.03).Conclusion: We found that healthcare workers had an overall good awareness and optimistic attitude toward AI. Despite this, the majority is worried about the potential consequences of replacing their jobs with AI in the future. There is a dire need to educate and sensitize healthcare workers regarding the potential impact of AI on healthcare.Keywords: artificial intelligence, awareness, attitude, practice, healthcare workers, Saudi Arabia
