In a groundbreaking initiative, a team of clinicians from the Maxillofacial Unit at James Hospital in partnership with Computer Scientists in Trinity College Dublin is currently trialling a conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) implementation of a patient concerns inventory (PCI), devised for use with Head and Neck cancer patients.
The patient concerns inventory (PCI) allows patients to highlight the issues they would like to discuss at their outpatient consultation. It improves patient-clinician communication and has proven benefits. Use of conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) represents an opportunity to improve information flow between patients and professionals remote from the consultation.
Dr John Edward O'Connell, Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon at St. James Hospital, explains that while initial studies will focus on usability and utility of the platform, it is envisaged that it will eventually provide a rich stream of information between clinical teams and patients. Furthermore, it will help build a significant database, which will inform service improvements, and based on items checked, direct patients towards approved online and local supports and resources.
The trial prototype system, based on the eALTRA platform developed at Trinity College Dublin, presents patients with an online mobile device (phone, tablet, computer) app. This app, which is centred on the PCI-HN, will be available to head and neck cancer (HNC) patients at all times in the non-hospital environment and invites patients to select items they would like to address at their next consultation. It will employ natural language interfaces to gather and provide information from and to patients. As patients can use the app at home or elsewhere, items checked on the prompt list may better reflect patients’ needs/- concerns on an ongoing basis, as they can be noted as and when they occur to the patient.
John Edward O'Connell Consultant Oral, Maxillofacial/Head and Neck Surgeon.
'The incidence of Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) is increasing. Despite recent advances in management, the treatment of patients with HNC can have a detrimental effect on appearance, speech and swallow, emotional well-being, and social integration. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a key outcome in cancer care and we are, with this research group, exploring innovative ways of both measuring and improving patient outcomes. Key to this, is patient involvement'.
John Ed O'Connell