What if AI could help restore the human touch in healthcare?
A child's scribbled drawing says it all. A doctor and patients, with the doctor staring at a computer screen.
Dr. Rahul Goyal, Clinical Executive at Elsevier, uses the image from JAMA, to spotlight a challenge every clinician and nurse knows well, that time spent managing data and health records means less time engaging with patients.
What if the latest technology could help give you that time back?
“The people who seek our help deserve face-to-face attention. But time managing health records and clinical data keeps pulling us to the screen.”
Dr. Rahul Goyal
Clinical Executive, Elsevier
The challenges of modern healthcare
Clinicians everywhere are under strain. Elsevier’s Clinician of the Future 2025 report reveals just how much:
69%
are managing a higher patient load than they were two years ago
47%
report that fatigue has impaired their ability to treat patients effectively
28%
feel they lack sufficient time to provide quality care
The primary drivers
74%
high patient volume
73%
overwhelming administrative work
The importance of the human touch
Big medical breakthroughs make headlines, but often it’s the smallest gestures that mean the most, like a nurse holding a patient’s hand during a difficult diagnosis.
Yet clinicians juggle complex histories, multiple medications, and acute illnesses, pulling them away from those moments, all while the patient waits.
Dr. Louise Chang, Elsevier’s Global VP of Clinical Solutions Strategy & Partnerships, understands the tension. “Finding and synthesizing relevant information from scattered sources is daunting, and you’re doing it in real time,” she said.
Rahul agreed, “Patients often say the doctor seemed glued to the screen. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that we can’t look away.”
“Finding and synthesizing relevant information from scattered sources is daunting, and you’re doing it in real time.”
Dr. Louise Chang
Elsevier’s Global VP of Clinical Solutions Strategy & Partnerships
How AI changed one boy’s story
Can technology really be the solution to its own riddle? Rahul’s own experience suggests so.
“I work in urgent care and one of my patients is a six-year-old boy,” he said. “He’s usually very active – rides a bike, plays football, all those things that a six-year-old loves to do.”
However, the boy developed a serious limp. He couldn’t play in the way he loved, and yet extensive tests and scans had come back normal.
“That’s frightening for any child,” Rahul said. “There are times when you have to tell a patient that you’re uncertain about the next steps, but you want to be doing that with your full care and attention.”
He entered the full case into ClinicalKey AI — symptoms, scans, and one key detail: the boy’s Indian heritage. The AI flagged a diagnosis others missed. Tuberculosis.
Rahul returned to the radiology team to request a PET scan, which revealed that the boy had quite a few spots of inflammation on the hip. Combined with a special blood test it confirmed active tuberculosis
That boy is now back to his old self, running and jumping and playing as before. Rahul commented, “The AI helped us break through human bias, and gave me time to focus on caring, not just searching.”
Rahul is among many clinicians using AI to support their work. Dr Russ Cucina Chief Medical Information Officer at University of California, San Francisco, said,
“AI is the first technology I’ve seen in my more than two decades of health IT leadership where the excitement might actually match the potential. It holds real promise for applications in clinical practice, especially in areas that free clinicians from time-consuming tasks.”
Elsevier’s data shows usage among clinicians nearly doubled in a year, with 48% now using AI tools.
57%
of clinicians say it saves time
53%
of clinicians say it empowers them
Driving adoption
by building trust
AI adoption hinges on trust, accuracy, and transparency, and on addressing fears that over-reliance could dull clinical judgement.
“We’ve worried about clinicians becoming too reliant on technology since the early days of electronic health records,” said Russ.
His advice to trainees is clear:
“Think through things themselves first, then use AI as a second check or reminder, not a replacement for their judgement.”
Rahul emphasized the importance of transparency.
“At times, I use the AI output as a second opinion in my room. I'll show patients what it suggests on my screen. It gives them confidence that whatever I’m doing aligns with current best practices and guidance.”
By openly sharing how AI supports care decisions, clinicians can build patient confidence, showing that technology strengthens human judgement rather than replacing it.
Driving adoption
by building trust
AI adoption hinges on trust, accuracy, and transparency, and on addressing fears that over-reliance could dull clinical judgement.
“We’ve worried about clinicians becoming too reliant on technology since the early days of electronic health records,” said Russ.
His advice to trainees is clear:
“Think through things themselves first, then use AI as a second check or reminder, not a replacement for their judgement.”
Rahul emphasized the importance of transparency.
“At times, I use the AI output as a second opinion in my room. I'll show patients what it suggests on my screen. It gives them confidence that whatever I’m doing aligns with current best practices and guidance.”
By openly sharing how AI supports care decisions, clinicians can build patient confidence, showing that technology strengthens human judgement rather than replacing it.
A more human-centered future
As AI continues to support clinical practice, its true value lies not in replacing the human touch, but restoring it. By handling data and paperwork, it gives clinicians time to care.
Experience shows that when clinicians and patients can look each other in the eye, supported by trustworthy, transparent tools, the future of healthcare becomes not just more efficient, but more human.
Learn more about how Elsevier supports clinicians with trusted tools
