Introduction to Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows machines to understand human language and how it’s used. This enables virtual assistants to do more than simply read words. They can instead process the words to get context into the request. This technology encourages a natural flow to a conversation instead of a choppy back and forth.
Natural language processing allows computers to translate text across languages, summarize text, and respond to voice commands in real-time. Natural language processing technology is used for virtual assistants, chatbots, and speech-to-text software.
Natural language processing technology is being incorporated into several industries through customer service chatbots, spam detection, and test summarization. Some of these industries include marketing, travel, and the medical field.
Exploring Natural Language Processing in Telehealth Virtual Assistants
One way the healthcare industry is utilizing natural language processing technology is through virtual assistants connected to telehealth applications. Since they are typically used alongside a telemedicine platform, virtual assistants can be accessed on a mobile device or computer.
Virtual assistants are being used to offer patients personalized support by having the ability to contextualize the patient’s questions and provide relevant information in response. A virtual assistant is intended to help patients manage their health and care through services, including reminders, health education, and symptom tracking.
Healthcare professionals are utilizing virtual assistants to manage repetitive tasks to ease up their workloads and allow more focus to be given to patient care. These tasks can include sending appointment reminders, fielding patient questions, and managing email inboxes.
Advantages of AI-powered Virtual Assistants for Health Outcomes
Using artificial intelligence to power virtual assistants to make healthcare delivery more accessible comes with several advantages. Let’s take a look at three of these advantages for patients and providers and how they can improve patient outcomes.
Efficiency
Virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence can support patients and answer their questions accurately and efficiently. Since natural language processing makes artificial intelligence able to understand questions and respond in like, it can provide patients with the answers they need in a way they can understand.
If a patient has any questions about their condition or symptoms, an AI-powered digital assistant can provide patients with medical literature and related articles. This helps patients take control of their healthcare and makes it easier for them to seek support.
Convenient Care
One of the many reasons telehealth platforms are being increasingly used to deliver healthcare services is the convenience of receiving patient care through a mobile device from the comfort of home. With AI-powered virtual assistants, patients will have a place to receive answers, regardless of the time.
Without waiting for a medical office to be open and waiting to contact a provider who can answer the patient’s questions, they can instead seek support from the virtual assistant in the telehealth app. This is also convenient for healthcare professionals, who will spend less time answering simple questions and can instead focus on questions unique to the patient.
Provider Support
Healthcare providers can utilize virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence to make it easier to manage patient care. AI can help providers build personalized treatment plans based on the patient’s medical history, diagnosis, and lifestyle. This will ensure patients are receiving medical care that will produce the best patient outcomes.
With the support of a virtual assistant to build treatment plans and answer patient questions, healthcare providers are able to allocate more of their time to focus on patients with conditions that aren’t as simple to treat.
Challenges Associated with Telehealth Virtual Assistants
After reviewing some of the advantages of using AI-powered virtual assistants, let’s look at three challenges that can be faced in the healthcare industry.
System Accuracy
If a virtual assistant is going to be answering a patient’s questions regarding their condition and symptoms, then it must be accurate in its responses. Ensuring the accuracy of an AI system relies on the amount of data supplied and how high the quality of it is. Before utilizing a virtual assistant, healthcare organizations must verify the data’s accuracy and ensure there are no missing pieces.
Data Sources
Quality and complete datasets are essential to having a well-developed healthcare virtual assistant. Many healthcare organizations struggle to get these high-quality data sources, which can negatively impact the work produced by the virtual assistant.
When developing a virtual assistant, healthcare organizations must identify the best sources for training data and ensure they are in compliance with security and privacy regulations.
System Security
The healthcare industry manages sensitive patient and organizational data, and some counties have legal compliance regulations in place to keep it safe. Virtual assistants in the healthcare system should also be secured to protect any medical data or patient information.
Healthcare organizations should also ensure any vendors with access to the virtual assistant or telehealth platform are not a security risk by running background checks.
Examples of Telehealth Virtual Assistants
After reviewing the ins and outs of virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence, let’s take a look at how they are used in telemedicine services.
Personal Health Monitoring
Remote patient monitoring uses wearable devices to collect live patient health data, including vital signs, activity levels, and sleep patterns. Virtual assistants can take the data gathered and create summaries for patients who want an overview of their personal health. This information can also be used to influence treatment plans to make them more personalized to fit the patient’s lifestyle.
Medical Data Collection
Virtual assistants can be used to help collect patient data and compare it to the patient’s electronic health records to determine their health levels based on previous years. Whether the data is processed manually or transmitted from a remote monitoring device, a digital assistant can process the patient data and alert providers when there is an unusual data point.
Appointment Alerts
Healthcare facilities are using virtual assistants to send patients automated alerts when their appointments are coming up, typically via email. Machine learning algorithms can be trained to identify important dates and information, including upcoming appointments. By automating these reminders, health professionals can spend less time performing administrative tasks, and patients are less likely to miss their appointments.
Virtual Check-In
To make the check-in process more efficient, many healthcare providers are utilizing virtual assistants to help patients check in. With natural language processing technology, the virtual assistant can help guide the patient through the process and provide support when they have questions about their medical history or the condition they’re seeking treatment for.
The virtual assistant can analyze patient data and verify the type of care needed, allowing healthcare providers to offer the patient a more personalized treatment.
How Geneca Can Help
Using natural language processing technology to offer users a virtual assistant can improve the user experience for a telehealth platform. If your healthcare organization is ready to offer patients and providers personalized support, reach out to Geneca today! We have a team of experts who are experienced in the healthcare industry and ready to support your organization.