Impact of cognitive workload and situation awareness on clinicians’ willingness to use an artificial intelligence system in clinical practice

Abstract

Determinants of technology acceptance are multifaceted, particularly for artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. Using AI might impact users’ cognitive workload and situation awareness. This study explores the moderating effect of clinicians’ situation awareness and workload on the interaction between trust, risk, and intent to use an AI-based decision support system known as the blood utilization calculator (BUC). The study took place at an academic hospital in Wisconsin, US. A purposeful sampling strategy was utilized to recruit 119 BUC users. The data was collected via an online validated survey. The study leveraged Hayes PROCESS to capture the moderation effect of situation awareness and cognitive workload on the relationship between perceived risk and trust. The study also reports the significant impact of situation awareness (positively) and cognitive workload (negatively) on intent to use BUC. Adding to the body of knowledge, our study advocates for minimal cognitive workload and optimal situation awareness in healthcare.

Keywords:

• Awareness
• blood transfusion
• decision support system
• hemoglobin management
• workload

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Joshua E. Medow, Professor for Neurosurgery, for his overall guidance. He has invented the Digital Intern AI technology that includes the BUC and is an owner/manager of iVMD.

Consent and approval

The study obtained ethical approval from the institutional review board of University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was determined to meet the criteria for exempt human subject research in accordance with the category(ies) as defined under 45 CFR 46.

Competing interests

The authors report no conflict of interest

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.