Chatbots in Healthcare: The Evolution to Sophisticated Query Tools
Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Patient Management at the Time of a Pandemic: The Role of Voice Technology PMC Healthcare providers can overcome this challenge by investing in data integration technologies that allow chatbots to access patient data in real-time. Healthcare chatbots are AI-powered virtual assistants that provide personalized support to patients and healthcare providers. They are designed to simulate human-like conversation, enabling patients to interact with them as they would with a real person. Such approaches also raise important questions about the production of knowledge, a concern that AI more broadly is undergoing a reckoning with [19]. Most chatbots (we are not talking about AI-based ones) are rather simple and their main goal is to answer common questions. Hence, when a patient starts asking about a rare condition or names symptoms that a bot was not trained to recognize, it leads to frustration on both sides. A bot doesn’t have an answer and a patient is confused and annoyed as they didn’t get help. So in case you have a simple bot and don’t want your patients to complain about its insufficient knowledge, either invest in a smarter bot or simply add an option to connect with a medical professional for more in-depth advice. Designing chatbot interfaces for medical information involves training the Natural Language Processing (NLP) model on medical terminology. Comprehending the obstacles encountered by healthcare providers and patients is crucial for customizing the functionalities of the chatbot. This stage guarantees that the medical chatbot solves practical problems and improves the patient experience. In recent years, the healthcare landscape has witnessed a transformative integration of technology, with medical chatbots at the forefront of this evolution. Medical chatbots also referred to as health bots or medical AI chatbots, have become instrumental in reshaping patient engagement and accessibility within the healthcare industry. Chat-based/Conversational chatbots talk to the user, like another human being, and their goal is to respond correctly to the sentence they have been given. Task-based chatbots perform a specific task such as booking a flight or helping somebody. These chatbots are intelligent in the context of asking for information and understanding the user’s input. Restaurant booking bots and FAQ chatbots chatbot technology in healthcare are examples of Task-based chatbots [34, 35]. Natural Language Processing (NLP), an area of artificial intelligence, explores the manipulation of natural language text or speech by computers. Knowledge of the understanding and use of human language is gathered to develop techniques that will make computers understand and manipulate natural expressions to perform desired tasks [32]. Importantly, in addition to human-like answers, the perceived human-likeness of chatbots in general can be considered ‘as a likely predictor of users’ trust in chatbots’ (p. 25). And the best part is that these actions do not require patients to schedule an appointment or stand in line, waiting for the doctor to respond. It can be done via different ways, by asking questions or through a questionnaire that a patient fills in themselves. Shum et al. (2018, p. 16) defined CPS (conversation-turns per session) as ‘the average number of conversation-turns between the chatbot and the user in a conversational session’. The first author worked closely with the chatbot company to determine the type, amount, and format of usage data that needed to be extracted to fulfill the study’s purpose. To protect users’ privacy, all identifiable information (eg, phone number) was removed from the data set by the chatbot company before sending it to the researchers. Moreover, the users consented at the point of registration that researchers were allowed to analyze their usage data for research purposes. The study procedure was approved by the first author’s university’s Institutional Review Board. When a consultation is complete, DoctorBot generates a report detailing potential diagnoses, prediction confidence, treatment options, and which hospital unit (eg, cardiology, urology) to visit (Figure 1, right). Some ethical issues relative to chatbots would be worth studying like abuse and deception, as people, on some occasions, believe they talk to real humans while they are talking to chatbots. Understanding what the chatbot will offer and what category falls into helps developers pick the algorithms or platforms and tools to build it. Classification based on the knowledge domain considers the knowledge a chatbot can access or the amount of data it is trained upon. Open domain chatbots can talk about general topics and respond appropriately, while closed domain chatbots are focused on a particular knowledge domain and might fail to respond to other questions [34]. Rapid diagnoses by chatbots can erode diagnostic practice, which requires practical wisdom and collaboration between different specialists as well as close communication with patients. HCP expertise relies on the intersubjective circulation of knowledge, that is, a pool of dynamic knowledge and the intersubjective criticism of data, knowledge and processes. Step 4: Integration with Electronic Health Records (EHR) In addition to the content, some apps allowed for customization of the user interface by allowing the user to pick their preferred background color and image. Classification based on the goals considers the primary goal chatbots aim to achieve. Informative chatbots are designed to provide the user with information that is stored beforehand or is available from a fixed source, like FAQ chatbots. Personalized clinical instructions are an important component of a holistic medical approach allowing for the continuity and coordination of care. Answers by Cigna tracks patient incentive programs, provides wellness tips, and enables health coach programs to navigate treatment plans [31]. OrbitaCONNECT provides a virtual health assistant for chronic, pre-, and postvisit care continuity [32]. Furthermore, with Talkspace Alexa skill, users can access mental health assessments and a library of mental health tools [33]. Europe market is estimated to witness the fastest share over the forecast period as there is a rising demand for digital health solutions across Europe as healthcare systems strive to improve access, efficiency, and patient engagement. Included Studies For example, the development of the Einstein app as a web-based physics teacher enables interactive learning and evaluations but is still far from being
