The main aim of this study is to discuss and critically review the concept of computational intelligence in relation to the context of fluid dynamics in healthcare industries. The motivation or specific objective is to discern how, in the recent past, scholarly investigations have yielded insights into the CI concept as that which is shaping the understanding of fluid dynamics in healthcare. Also, the study strives to predict how CI might shape fluid dynamics understanding in the future of healthcare industries. From the secondary sources of data that have been consulted, it is evident that the CI concept is gaining increasing adoption and application in healthcare fluid dynamics. Some of the specific areas where it has been applied include the determination of occlusion device performance, the determination of device safety in cardiovascular medicine, the determination of optimal ventilation system designs in hospital cleanrooms and operating rooms, and the determination of the efficacy of intra-arterial chemotherapy for cancer patients; especially relative to patient vessel geometries. Other areas include analyzing idealized medical devices from the perspective of inter-laboratory studies and how the CI techniques could inform healthcare decisions concerning the management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. In the future, the study recommends the need for further understanding of some of the challenges that CI-based approaches face when other moderating factors (such as patients presenting with multiple conditions) face and how they could be mitigated to assure their efficacy for use in the healthcare fluid dynamics context. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.