Clinicians See AI as Key to Addressing Time Pressures and Improving Patient Care, New Report Finds

A new global report from Elsevier Health highlights that many clinicians believe artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to relieve some of the key challenges in healthcare delivery, particularly time constraints, diagnostic support, and improving outcomes. The Clinician of the Future 2025 insights report is based on survey responses from 2,206 clinicians across 109 countries.

While the overall outlook on AI is positive, the findings also reveal ongoing concerns around trust, regulation, and lack of institutional support.

Optimism Around AI’s Role in Care Delivery

Most physicians and nurses expressed optimism about the impact of AI on their day-to-day work within the next two to three years. Specifically, clinicians believe AI tools can:

• Save time (70%)
• Increase diagnostic speed (58%)
• Improve diagnostic accuracy (54%)
• Enhance patient outcomes (55%)

Despite the promise, clinicians noted the importance of reliable, regulated tools. Many remain cautious about current AI offerings due to trust and compliance issues.

Growing Use of AI — But Gaps Remain

The report found that 48% of clinicians have used AI tools for work, nearly double the 26% reported in the previous year’s survey. However, most clinicians are relying on general-purpose tools like ChatGPT (used by 97% of those who use AI), while fewer have accessed clinical-specific platforms (76%).

Regional differences in usage also emerged:

• China reported the highest AI adoption for clinical work (71%)
• United States (36%) and United Kingdom (34%) reported the lowest usage rates

Though 95% of clinicians see potential benefits in generative AI tools, only 16% currently use AI for clinical decision-making, with another 48% expressing interest in doing so.

Key Challenges: Time, Fatigue, and Patient Volume

Beyond AI, the survey shed light on the broader strain clinicians are experiencing:

• 28% of clinicians say they don’t have enough time to deliver quality care
• 69% report seeing more patients now than two years ago
• 47% believe fatigue has affected their ability to treat patients effectively

These pressures appear to fuel growing interest in AI, though access and implementation remain uneven.

Building Trust in Clinical AI

Clinicians identified several ways to increase confidence in AI tools used for clinical decisions:

• Automatically citing references (68%)
• Training on peer-reviewed content (65%)
• Using the latest clinical resources (64%)
• Prioritizing factual accuracy, particularly in the US (75%) and UK (81%)

These preferences suggest that content quality and transparency are central to clinician trust.

Barriers to Adoption: Access, Training, and Oversight

While interest in AI is high, many clinicians face limited access and support:

• Only 32% say their institutions provide adequate access to AI tools
• Just 30% report receiving sufficient AI training
• Only 29% feel their organization has appropriate AI governance structures in place

Industry Perspective

Jan Herzhoff, President of Elsevier Health, acknowledged the tension between rising expectations and limited support structures:

“As the healthcare industry continues to grapple with increased demands and limited resources, clinicians have identified many opportunities for AI to provide quality care faster and to help improve patient outcomes,” said Herzhoff. “I am delighted to share our report’s insights — this is a hugely exciting time, and I look forward to working alongside everyone in healthcare to harness the full potential of AI to deliver for patients.”