I’m a long way from applying. I’m a data analyst, but I see the writing on the wall with AI making my job more obsolete so I’m pivoting to a healthcare career (both out of fear and a genuine interest in medicine). My plan is to do a nursing program and work for a few years to bolster my PA application down the road.
I see the AI essay prompt floating around this cycle and I’m wondering how you feel about AI coming for healthcare jobs? I’ve seen many confidently say AI and robotics won’t replace healthcare providers because of the complexity and human empathy aspect, but I think that’s a bit naive. AI is already performing algorithmic healthcare tasks like diagnostics with scary accuracy (even and perhaps especially in complex fields like oncology) and robotics have become the gold standard in surgery (albeit as a tool but there’s a lot of r and d being poured into autonomous robots). In any case, even if AI doesn’t replace PAs and doctors and nurses entirely, in theory it could reduce jobs by a lot by automating administrative tasks.
I don’t mean to be doomsday-y but we are undoubtedly headed towards an AI revolution and it’s scary to say the least… it’ll be even scarier with $100,000 in debt…