The healthcare industry has turned to improving digital healthcare services in light of the increased difficulty in serving patients during a health crisis or epidemic. Research by Google reveals that one in every twenty Google searches is about health, this clearly demonstrates the need to receive proper healthcare advice digitally.
Healthcare providers are adopting chatbots to serve patients 24/7 which is a game-changer for the industry. Healthcare chatbots can provide accurate, up to date information and provide a better experience to patients. All before setting foot in a hospital or doctor's office.
Predicting a disease requires analyzing various symptoms and parameters, especially in the case of global pandemics like COVID-19. If you consider cases like the coronavirus which spreads rapidly and can be life-threatening, people start to panic and search for the latest information. The first thing people want to do is contact their healthcare provider but offices are not set up to handle an influx in public inquiries. Also, in-person appointments, even for people with symptoms, can be hard to manage.
To offer services with ease and accuracy, AI-powered chatbots can provide patients with information. Patients can share their symptoms with the chatbot and the chatbot can analyze those symptoms and provide information or actions to take. If the issue is serious, the chatbot can escalate to a human representative to schedule an appointment or request emergency services.
Hospitals employ administrative staff to schedule appointments or answer general questions. These repetitive tasks are time-consuming and employing additional administrators to handle the increased volume of requests may not be economically viable. The best solution is a chatbot.
Chatbots can handle any number of requests, schedule appointments, and resolve simple questions. Chatbots can also send notifications to prompt patients about their appointments and ask about their health to gather critical information for doctors.
Medical data increases every year and the industry is failing to cope with the rate at which medical data (patient records, prescriptions, MHR, clinical research, data from health-based personal tech) is generated. Accessing these Electronic Medical Records (EMR) from a web portal can be difficult even for a medical practitioner as they need to be trained on how to use the portal. Instead, having a chatbot makes the job of extracting records quick and easy all while staying secure.
Wearable devices for fitness and health have become mainstream. These devices generate a lot of health data about a person. If these devices integrate with enterprise healthcare systems powered by AI, they can analyze the patient’s health using the data from these devices. The chatbot can suggest various healthy recipes and exercises, send medication reminders, or suggest visiting a doctor if somethings seems wrong. Also, Over The Counter drugs don't need a prescription. In this case, chatbots can recommend an Over The Counter remedy, without requiring a doctor. Here a chatbot will not replace a medical professional but can be a personal health advisor or coach.
To reduce the digital gap between end-consumers and companies, companies need to evolve their digital strategies to ensure that communication channels are consumer-friendly. Most companies leverage social media to fill this gap. You can easily integrate healthcare chatbots and voice assistants with social media to help serve patients.
Medical practices, clinical research information, and recalls are updated regularly. Healthcare chatbots can be integrated into web and mobile applications to make it easy for doctors to get information without spending a lot of time searching through data.