Developing an AI Tool to Derive Social Determinants of Health for Primary Care Patients: Qualitative Findings From a Codesign Workshop
Information on the social determinants of health is essential for primary care providers to deliver equitable and comprehensive care, plan health programs and allocate resources. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to derive social determinants data in healthcare settings, but many factors need to be considered first before designing an AI tool.
Fifteen healthcare providers (including family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical staff, and various allied healthcare professionals) at St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team participated in co-design workshops. They gave feedback on a proposed AI tool to derive social determinants data from electronic medical records (EMRs).
The participants had a number of suggestions related to topics on people, processes, and technology to be considered when implementing the AI tool. They recommended starting with one or two social determinants, suggesting income and housing as priorities. They also emphasized the need for adequate resources, staff, and training materials and noted many challenges that would need to be addressed.
The findings aim to guide future work on co-designing with end users and implementing an AI tool for deriving social determinants data in primary care.
