Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Toward Artificial Intelligence Among Healthcare Workers in Private Polyclinics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Purpose The objective of our study was to assess awareness, attitudes, and practices regarding artificial intelligence (AI) among healthcare workers in private polyclinics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods We conducted cross-sectional study among healthcare workers in private clinics in Jeddah. Data was collected using a structured, validated questionnaire in Arabic and English on awareness, attitudes, and behaviors regarding AI. Cronbach’s alpha for the questionnaire ranged from 0.6 to 0.8. Descriptive and bivariate analysis was done to assess the scores and their association of various sociodemographic variables with awareness, attitudes, and behaviors regarding AI. Multiple linear regression was performed to predict the scores of awareness, attitudes, and behaviors based on the sociodemographic variables. Results We recruited 361 participants for this study. Approximately, 62% of the healthcare workers were female. The majority (36%) of healthcare workers were nurses, while 25% were physicians. The median awareness, attitude, and behavioral scores were 5/6 (IQR 3–6), 5/8 (IQR 4–7), and 0/3 (IQR 0), respectively. Approximately three-fourths (74%) of the healthcare workers believed that they understood the basic computational principles of AI. Only half of the participants were willing to use AI when making future medical decisions. We found that male healthcare workers had better knowledge scores regarding AI as compared to female healthcare workers (Beta = 0.555, 95%, p value = 0.010), while for attitude scores, being administrative employee as compared to other employees was found to have negative attitude towards AI (Beta = 0.049, 95%, p value = 0.03). Conclusion We found that healthcare workers had an overall good awareness and optimistic attitude toward AI. Despite this, the majority is worried about the potential consequences of replacing their jobs with AI in the future. There is a dire need to educate and sensitize healthcare workers regarding the potential impact of AI on healthcare.

The moderating role of ethical awareness in the relationship between nurses’ artificial intelligence perceptions, attitudes, and innovative work behavior: a cross-sectional study

“…This study supports the findings of Serbaya et al (2024) that healthcare professionals generally had positive attitudes and a good awareness of AI [ 30 ]. Furthermore, another research study revealed that most healthcare professionals had a good attitude about using AI in healthcare but did not consider it dangerous to their jobs.…”

“…In addition, this study shows a statistically significant difference between Perception of AI, ethical awareness, innovation, and gender, in which male nurses have higher mean scores in all variables than female nurses, which means male nurses are more aware of AI uses and applications used in healthcare organizations than female nurses. This finding aligns with the findings of Serbaya et al (2024), which indicate that male healthcare professionals scored higher on AI knowledge tests than female healthcare workers (Beta = 0.555, 95%, p-value = 0.010) [ 30 ].…”