Beyond Boundaries: The Promise Of Conversational AI In Healthcare

Informative chatbots are designed to provide the user with information that is stored beforehand or is available from a fixed source, like FAQ chatbots. 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 are examples of Task-based chatbots [34, 35].

• To further train the model, researchers tasked the LLM with playing the role of a person with a specific ailment or an empathetic doctor.
• Based on a large language model (LLM) developed by Google, the chatbot demonstrated superior accuracy in diagnosing respiratory issues, cardiovascular conditions, and various ailments than a general practitioner.
• For example, Mandy is a chatbot that assists health care staff by automating the patient intake process [43].
• Chatbots in the healthcare industry provide support by recommending coping strategies for various mental health problems.
• In this article, we will explore how chatbots in healthcare can improve patient engagement and experience and streamline internal and external support.

Chatbot in the healthcare industry has been a great way to overcome the challenge. This means that hospitals could leverage digital humans as health assistants, capable of providing empathetic, around-the-clock aid to patients, particularly before or after their surgery. By taking an all-in-one communication approach, Quincy encourages patients to proactively share their health information, which, in turn, enables care providers to cut costs, improve care quality and boost patient satisfaction. Now more than ever, chatbot technology in healthcare patients find themselves relying on a digital-first approach to healthcare — an arrangement that, at first, might not involve a human on the other end of the exchange. The search initially yielded 2293 apps from both the Apple iOS and Google Play stores (see Fig. 1). In the second round of screening, 48 apps were removed as they lacked a chatbot feature and 103 apps were also excluded, as they were not available for full download, required a medical records number or institutional login, or required payment to use.

Future of Chatbots in Healthcare

Recent advances in the development and application of chatbot technologies and the rapid uptake of messenger platforms have fueled the explosion in chatbot use and development that has taken place since 2016 [3]. Chatbots are now found to be in use in business and e-commerce, customer service and support, financial services, law, education, government, and entertainment and increasingly across many aspects of health service provision [5]. First, we introduce health chatbots and their historical background and clarify their technical capabilities to support the work of healthcare professionals. Second, we consider how the implementation of chatbots amplifies the project of rationality and automation in professional work as well as changes in decision-making based on epistemic probability.

In the aftermath of COVID-19, Omaolo was updated to include ‘Coronavirus symptoms checker’, a service that ‘gives guidance regarding exposure to and symptoms of COVID-19’ (Atique et al. 2020, p. 2464; Tiirinki et al. 2020). In September 2020, the THL released the mobile contact tracing app Koronavilkku,Footnote 1 which can collaborate with Omaolo by sharing information and informing the app of positive test cases (THL 2020, p. 14). While the industry is already flooded with various healthcare chatbots, we still see a reluctance towards experimentation with more evolved use cases. It is partially because conversational AI is still evolving and has a long way to go. As natural language understanding and artificial intelligence technologies evolve, we will see the emergence of more advanced healthcare chatbot solutions.

Advantages of chatbots in healthcare

The prevalence of cancer is increasing along with the number of survivors of cancer, partly because of improved treatment techniques and early detection [77]. A number of these individuals require support after hospitalization or treatment periods. Maintaining autonomy and living in a self-sustaining way within their home environment is especially important for older populations [79]. Implementation of chatbots may address some of these concerns, such as reducing the burden on the health care system and supporting independent living. This review article aims to report on the recent advances and current trends in chatbot technology in medicine. A brief historical overview, along with the developmental progress and design characteristics, is first introduced.