If doctors are the heart of the hospital, nurses are surely the soul. And if that’s so, today’s AI has to be something like a nutritional supplement for the brains of the operation.

“For me and my colleagues, it’s not an exaggeration to say that it doubled our efficiency," says radiologist Samir F. Abboud, MD, chief of emergency radiology at Northwestern. 
 

A new review of the relevant scientific literature suggests many if not most patients are aware that healthcare AI’s emerging benefits exist side-by-side with its persistent uncertainties. 

The FDA is alerting healthcare providers about a problematic tracheostomy tube that has potential for causing serious or life-threatening injury. 

The patient, 67, presented with a failing TAVR valve and a leaky mitral valve. She had undergone TAVR four years prior, but premature structural valve degeneration made a full replacement necessary. Surgeons ultimately removed the TAVR valve in addition to replacing her aortic and mitral valves—all with the help of advanced robotics.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is calling this a recall, an updated set of use instructions of Smiths Medical, the manufacturer of the pumps, will allow for their safe, continued use. 

The robots are capable of swimming through a patient’s vascular system and removing blood clots. “It’s unbelievable," one Stanford researcher said. "This is a sea-change technology that will drastically improve our ability to help people.”

We’re either teetering at the edge of AI overlordship—or just working with new tech tools that do the same old computer-y things we’ve always done. So which is it?