Associate Professor Hasei of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University Academic Research Institute has developed a generative AI chatbot that can be used to explain nursing care insurance at a university hospital and to respond to inquiries from patients. This is said to be the first time in Japan that AI will be used to develop a question-and-answer system and provide explanations, and will be trialled in clinical settings by the end of 2023.
According to Okayama University, this system can be used for explanation work at the university hospital, and also allows patients to ask questions using the LINE app on their smartphones after returning home.
When 10 medical professionals and general test users used the device for a month, they were able to respond to specific and accurate questions with almost no problems. He never gave incorrect answers even to vague questions.
Okayama University intends to fully introduce the technology after further improvements if there are no problems with the trial implementation in clinical settings. We hope that this will lead to widespread use of AI in medical settings.
Explanation work by hospital staff is often limited in time and cannot adequately answer patients' questions. Okayama University believes that the generated AI chatbot can be used not only for nursing care insurance, but also for other explanation tasks, and will help build better communication between medical professionals and patients.
