BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), which was not previously anticipated; this is an unforeseen development. The use of AI in health care settings is increasing, as it proves to be a promising tool for transforming health care systems, improving operational and business processes, and efficiently simplifying health care tasks for family physicians and health care administrators. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the perspective of family physicians on AI and its impact on their job roles.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the impact of AI on the management and practices of Qatar\'s Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in improving health care tasks and service delivery. Furthermore, it seeks to evaluate the impact of AI on family physicians\' job roles, including associated risks and ethical ramifications from their perspective.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey and sent a web-based questionnaire survey link to 724 practicing family physicians at the PHCC. In total, we received 102 eligible responses.
RESULTS: Of the 102 respondents, 72 (70.6%) were men and 94 (92.2%) were aged between 35 and 54 years. In addition, 58 (56.9%) of the 102 respondents were consultants. The overall awareness of AI was 80 (78.4%) out of 102, with no difference between gender (P=.06) and age groups (P=.12). AI is perceived to play a positive role in improving health care practices at PHCC (P<.001), managing health care tasks (P<.001), and positively impacting health care service delivery (P<.001). Family physicians also perceived that their clinical, administrative, and opportunistic health care management roles were positively influenced by AI (P<.001). Furthermore, perceptions of family physicians indicate that AI improves operational and human resource management (P<.001), does not undermine patient-physician relationships (P<.001), and is not considered superior to human physicians in the clinical judgment process (P<.001). However, its inclusion is believed to decrease patient satisfaction (P<.001). AI decision-making and accountability were recognized as ethical risks, along with data protection and confidentiality. The optimism regarding using AI for future medical decisions was low among family physicians.
CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated a positive perception among family physicians regarding AI integration into primary care settings. AI demonstrates significant potential for enhancing health care task management and overall service delivery at the PHCC. It augments family physicians\' roles without replacing them and proves beneficial for operational efficiency, human resource management, and public health during pandemics. While the implementation of AI is anticipated to bring benefits, the careful consideration of ethical, privacy, confidentiality, and patient-centric concerns is essential. These insights provide valuable guidance for the strategic integration of AI into health care systems, with a focus on maintaining high-quality patient care and addressing the multifaceted challenges that arise during this transformative process.

BACKGROUND: Several tools have been developed for health care professionals to monitor the physical activity of their patients, but most of these tools have been considering only the needs of users in North American and European countries and applicable for only specific analytic tasks. To our knowledge, no research study has utilized the participatory design (PD) approach in the Middle East region to develop such tools, involving all the stakeholders in the product development phases, and no clear use cases have been derived from such studies that could serve future development in the field.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop an interactive visualization tool (ActiVis) to support local health care professionals in monitoring the physical activity of their patients measured through wearable sensors, with the overall objective of improving the health of the Qatari population.
METHODS: We used PD and user-centered design methodologies to develop ActiVis, including persona development, brainwriting, and heuristic walkthrough as part of user evaluation workshops; and use cases, heuristic walkthrough, interface walkthrough, and survey as part of expert evaluation sessions.
RESULTS: We derived and validated 6 data analysis use cases targeted at specific health care professionals from a collaborative design workshop and an expert user study. These use cases led to improving the design of the ActiVis tool to support the monitoring of patients\' physical activity by nurses and family doctors. The ActiVis research prototype (RP) compared favorably with the Fitbit Dashboard, showing the importance of design tools specific to end users\' needs rather than relying on repurposing existing tools designed for other types of users. The use cases we derived happen to be culturally agnostic, despite our assumption that the local Muslim and Arabic culture could impact the design of such visualization tools. At last, taking a step back, we reflect on running collaborative design sessions in a multicultural environment and oil-based economy.
CONCLUSIONS: Beyond the development of the ActiVis tool, this study can serve other visualization and human-computer interaction designers in the region to prepare their design projects and encourage health care professionals to engage with designers and engineers to improve the tools they use for supporting their daily routine. The development of the ActiVis tool for nurses, and other visualization tools specific to family doctors and clinician researchers, is still ongoing and we plan to integrate them into an operational platform for health care professionals in Qatar in the near future.

Propofol is a rapidly acting sedative drug, which is usually administered intravenously. It is widely used in procedural sedation due to its rapid onset and easy reversibility. It has a good safety profile when used in combination with ventilation and monitoring. However, propofol can bring on feelings of euphoria, sexual disinhibition, tension relief and hallucinations, creating a potential for abuse. At an international level, recreational propofol use among medical staff is a growing, yet under reported problem. In order to highlight this issue in an Irish context, the case reports described are among the first recorded deaths in Ireland due to unmonitored self-administration of propofol. The difficulties facing forensic pathologists in detecting propofol and its metabolites in these cases are outlined. The potential for propofol abuse should influence healthcare facilities to make their staff aware of the risks associated with it. This in turn would promote vigilance and encourage those affected to seek treatment.