INSIGHTS
BETTY OR A PACS/IT BY MARK WATTS
A
CHATBOT?
t a conference table in a mid-sized west Texas hospital I sit down with the scheduling team. I have been working here less than a full month. “Mark, we have seen a sharp increase in patients rescheduled from your department.” “Why?” I ask. They reply “Lack of patient prep for the exam, not NPO, no full bladder, not clean colon are some of the reasons your technologists’ give.“ Well, who gives the pre-exam prep information? “Betty, she was on light duty as an RN due to back surgery so we assigned this work to her, she was great at it.” “OK,” I say. “Betty is better now and she went back to her regular job,” they say. This important step in radiology workflow was outsourced for months and then abruptly ended. A simple task being skipped doubled our rate of rescheduled exams. How do I get a dependable solution for this problem, increase patient satisfaction and control my costs? Could I automate this process of pre-exams prep instructions? Could Betty be replaced by a chatbot? “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life,” said Bill Gates while referring to the power of technology. This stands utterly accurate for advancements such as artificial intelligence-enabled chatbots, which foreshadow the future of technological advancements to come. Artificial intelligence (AI), also referred to as machine learning or machine intelligence, is an intricate innovation smoothly gearing up to revolutionize our lives forever. The stimulation of human intelligence using contemporary computers that imitates cognitive functions is changing problem-solving. And, with cutting-edge disciplines such as AI and chatbots, researchers are leading the way to a 50
ICEMAGAZINE | MARCH 2020
great transformation. Apart from all other ways of demonstrating an impact, the role of AI in health care is particularly groundbreaking.
INTRODUCTION OF AI IN HEALTH CARE Recently, the discussion has moved to a point where AI doctors replacing general physicians in the future is no longer startling. Even though the switch may not happen in the near future, AI in health care is definitely going to be assisting general physicians to make an evolved diagnosis. There will soon be a time when the dependency on the human mind in the health care industry will decline from its current percentage. So, it is about time we recognize and appreciate the benefits AI chatbots can bring to health care. Super-responsive AI-enabled chatbots are presenting us with an option of a computerized medical professional with human-like conversational skills. It is not just revolutionary; it is a paradigm shift. In the process of understanding the employment of this technology and its implications, we are sketching below a comprehensive study on how AI chatbots are revolutionizing health care.
ROLE OF CHATBOTS AND AI IN HEALTH CARE So, what is a chatbot? And, how exactly, can chatbots and health care be combined to save lives?A chatbot is a type of web-robotic application powered by AI that helps in running automated commands on the Internet. As the name suggests, these Internet bots are primarily used as communication tools and facilitate automated conversation by way of audio or textual messaging. Instead of depending on conversing with an individual, chatbots provide assistance in communicating between two sides with automated scripts. With low doctor-patient ratios all around the world, particularly in under-developed and developing ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
