The Globe and Mail –
Meet the AI tools helping hospitals see more patients sooner

As it’s piloted throughout Canadian health care, artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to tackle long-standing problems that have put the system on the brink.

That’s if the technology manages to overcome a range of technical, practical and ethical challenges, experts say.

In Canada, the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people has been on the decline since the late 1980s, from 6.8 in 1985 to just 2.5 in 2019 – the third lowest among G20 nations – according to the World Bank. The health care system is also struggling with a shortage of workers, especially in Ontario, which is expected to need 33,000 more nurses and personal support workers by 2028.