New AI model could revolutionize suicide prevention in routine healthcare settings

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have developed an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) system designed to help doctors identify patients at risk for suicide. The AI-driven tool known as the Vanderbilt Suicide Attempt and Ideation Likelihood model (VSAIL) aims to enhance suicide prevention efforts in routine medical settings. The system was tested across three neurology clinics at Vanderbilt where researchers analyzed 7,732 patient visits over six months to assess suicide risk. According to the findings published in JAMA Network Open, the AI model effectively alerted doctors about potential risks by analyzing routine data from electronic health records and estimating a patient's likelihood of a suicide attempt within the next 30 days. The study compared two methods of alerting doctors: interruptive pop-up notifications that disrupted the doctor's workflow and a passive system that simply displayed risk information in the patient's chart.

The results showed that interruptive alerts were significantly more effective prompting doctors to conduct suicide risk assessments 42% of the time compared to only 4% with the passive system. While the researchers acknowledged that universal screening may not be feasible in all healthcare settings they believe VSAIL could be a useful tool for identifying high-risk patients and initiating targeted screening. They also suggested that similar AI systems could be tested in other medical environments. However the team noted a potential downside: frequent interruptive alerts might lead to "alert fatigue," where doctors become overwhelmed by excessive notifications. Future research will be needed to address this concern and ensure the effectiveness of such systems without overburdening medical professionals.