As a healthcare leader, do you know how your clinicians are using AI?
According to the American Medical Association, more than 80% of US doctors now use AI at work, and almost one in five use it to translate for patients. That’s a lot of patient information passing through tools you might never have approved.
That obviously has risks, and it’s tempting to lock things down and ban AI translation altogether.
Instead, opt for education rather than outright bans, and use guidelines rather than strict policies.
A ban won’t remove the language barrier. Your staff will still meet a patient they can’t understand, at 2am, with no interpreter on hand. They will still reach for their phone and its AI translator – they just won’t tell you. That’s a bigger risk!
Education and guidelines bring that use into the open, where you can make it safer.
Research from University College London shows why this matters. Researchers ran a myeloma treatment booklet through Google Translate into Bengali. The tool made 11 errors that changed the meaning. One line even told patients to just kill the cancer cells themselves!
You can’t expect clinicians to spot errors in a language they don’t speak. But you can teach them which conversations are too important to leave to AI, and when to call in an interpreter. In the same study, understanding rose sharply when a clinician and an interpreter talked people through a consent form printed in both English and Bengali.
Follow these practical steps to start the education process with your clinicians:
- Ask your team how they use AI translation now, and listen without judgement.
- Explain where AI translation helps and where it’s risky – for example, directions to the pharmacy versus medication instructions or consent.
- Treat AI as an assistant, not an expert: Let it draft, then have an interpreter or bilingual colleague check anything clinical.
- Give patients key documents, such as consent forms, in both English and their own language.
Don’t write your guidelines once and file them away, though. AI tools change fast, so update your guidance as they do.
Your clinicians already want to do the right thing for their patients. Give them guidelines that help them do it safely.
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