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9th World Congress of Teledermatology, Imaging and AI for Skin Diseases - Abstracts (2021) (40)
Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/35389, first published .
Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence Among Dermatologists in Morocco: A National Survey

Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence Among Dermatologists in Morocco: A National Survey

Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence Among Dermatologists in Morocco: A National Survey

Authors of this article:

Radia Chakiri1 Author Orcid Image ;   Laila Lahlou2 Author Orcid Image
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    Abstract

    1Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Hospital Souss Massa, Agadir, Morocco

    2Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Hospital Souss Massa, Agadir, Morocco

    Corresponding Author:

    Radia Chakiri, MD

    Department of Dermatology and Venereology

    Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy

    University Hospital Souss Massa

    Tilila, Agadir

    Agadir, 80000

    Morocco

    Phone: 212 5282 34041

    Email: r.chakiri@uiz.ac.ma


    Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic, and the use of AI in our day-to-day lives has increased exponentially. AI is becoming increasingly important in dermatology, with studies reporting accuracy matching or exceeding that of dermatologists in the diagnosis of skin lesions from clinical and dermoscopic images. However, little is known about the attitudes of dermatologists in Morocco toward AI.

    Objective: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the attitudes of dermatologists in Morocco toward AI.

    Methods: An online survey was distributed through Google Forms (Google LLC) to dermatologists in Morocco and was open from January to June 2021. Statistical analysis of the data collected was performed using Jamovi software. Any association for which the P value was <.05 was considered statistically significant.

    Results: In total, 183 surveys were completed and analyzed. Overall, 79.8% of respondents were female, and the median age was 35 years (IQR 25-74 years). A total of 30.6% stated that they were not aware of AI, and 34.4% had a basic knowledge of AI technologies. Only 7.7% of the respondents strongly agreed that the human dermatologist will be replaced by AI in the foreseeable future. Of the entire group, 61.8% agreed or strongly agreed that AI will improve dermatology, and 70% thought that AI should be part of medical training. In addition, only 32.2% reported having read publications about AI. Female dermatologists showed more fear pertaining to the use of AI within dermatology (P=.01); this group also suggested that AI has a very strong potential in the detection of skin diseases using dermoscopic images (P=.03).

    Conclusions: Our results demonstrate an overall optimistic attitude toward AI among dermatologists in Morocco. The majority of respondents believed that it will improve diagnostic capabilities.

    Conflict of Interest: None declared.

    iproc 2021;7(1):e35389

    doi:10.2196/35389

    Keywords

    artificial intelligence; skin; dermatology; dermatologist; Morocco 

    Edited by T Derrick; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 02.12.21; accepted 03.12.21; published 17.12.21

    Copyright

    ©Radia Chakiri, Laila Lahlou. Originally published in Iproceedings (https://www.iproc.org), 17.12.2021.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in Iproceedings, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.iproc.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.