Medical Assistants

Hands-on care tasks are much less automated. Hospitals are experimenting with cleaning robots – for example, the “Violet” robot uses UV light to disinfect rooms much faster than manual cleaning ^[3] – but most exam room prep is still done by people. Tasks like helping put a patient in place, handing injection needles, or changing dressings rely on human touch and judgment.

Those kinds of tasks require fine motor skills and empathy that machines aren’t good at ^{[4] [3]}. In short, AI is beginning to handle routine clerical chores, but the personal and dexterous parts of medical assisting remain very human.

Cost is also a big issue. Medical assistants typically earn modest wages, and buying or implementing AI systems can be expensive. Small clinics may decide it’s cheaper to keep a human at the desk than buy new software.

Patients often feel more comfortable talking to a friendly person, especially if they are anxious or not tech-savvy ^{[2] [4]}. For these reasons, experts believe AI will more likely assist medical assistants rather than replace them. The empathy, quick decision-making, and hands-on skills that humans provide are still very hard to automate ^{[4] [1]}.

In the end, AI can take over some of the routine chores so medical assistants have more time for patients, but hospital teams will still need real people for the caring work.