News | Interventional Radiology | April 10, 2019

Smart Speaker Technology Harnessed for Hospital Medical Treatments

Research demonstrates value of Amazon Echo and Google Home during medical procedures

Smart Speaker Technology Harnessed for Hospital Medical Treatments

April 10, 2019 —Smart speakers customarily used in your living room can act as an aid to physicians in hospital operating rooms, according to new research presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s (SIR) 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting, March 23-28 in Austin, Texas. Smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, offer a conversational voice interface that allows interventional radiology (IR) physicians to ask questions and retrieve information needed for their patient treatments without breaking sterile scrub.

“During treatment, IRs rely on nuanced medical information delivered in a timely manner. When you’re in the middle of a procedure, you need to remain sterile, so you lose the ability to use a computer,” said Kevin Seals, M.D., a fellow in interventional radiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and lead author of the study. “This smart speaker technology helps us to quickly and intelligently make decisions relevant to a patient’s specific needs.”

The researchers at UCSF developed a device-sizing application for the Google Home smart speaker. The application processes questions from a human voice and provides recommendations on the precise sizing of medical devices. For example, if an IR needs to know what size sheath to use to implant a stent in a patient’s blood vessel, the smart speaker can quickly and accurately communicate the correct size based on the specific circumstances, which helps the physician in making a final decision.

“There are hundreds of devices, with more being introduced every day, making it difficult to determine the correct sizing or materials needed in every circumstance. This technology allows physicians to concentrate more closely on the care of their patients, devoting less time and mental energy to device technicalities,” said Seals.

In developing the application, size specifications were acquired using literature reviews for 475 IR devices, such as catheters, sheaths, stents, vascular plugs and others. Natural language processing was implemented using Dialogflow, which extracted the information of interest from an input query. Logic operations and other data processing were performed using a Python script deployed to the cloud.

The researchers plan to continue to build on this technology and expand its scope to include information on material costs and inventory databases. Having this information readily available will make treatments more efficient, cost-effective and beneficial to patients. Further research will look to yield information for physicians in other specialties and provide information from electronic health records and patient clinical data, such as allergies or prior surgeries.

For more information: www.sirmeeting.org

Reference

1. Seals K., Al-Hakim R., Mulligan P., et al. Abstract 38: The Development of a Machine Learning Smart Speaker Application for Device Sizing in Interventional Radiology. Presented at SIR 2019.


Related Content

Feature | Information Technology | By Melinda Taschetta-Millane

​The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Global Health Conference and Exhibition brought ...

Home May 01, 2024
Home
Feature | Information Technology

Providing exceptional cardiovascular care for patients to achieve the best possible outcomes is the number one goal for ...

Home March 21, 2024
Home
News | Information Technology

March 7, 2024 — Siemens Healthineers has launched an app designed for Apple Vision Pro that enables users such as ...

Home March 07, 2024
Home
News | Information Technology

November 14, 2023 — To help provide clinicians a comprehensive workflow, GE HealthCare is working towards the seamless ...

Home November 14, 2023
Home
Feature | Information Technology | By Melinda Taschetta-Millane

Healthcare is constantly evolving, finding new ways to innovate and advance digital tools and technology. With this ...

Home July 14, 2023
Home
Videos | Information Technology

HIMMS is working to bring empirical knowledge and evidence of value and impact of digital maturity measured by the HIMSS ...

Home May 17, 2023
Home
Videos | Information Technology

Healthcare is constantly evolving, finding new ways to innovate and advance digital tools and technology. With this ...

Home May 11, 2023
Home
Feature | Information Technology

Many cardiology departments face significant challenges meeting regulatory requirements, quality metrics, and ...

Home February 10, 2023
Home
Case Study | Information Technology

This case study from Change Healthcare presents the following: Customer: Washington Health System Washington, PA ...

Home January 10, 2023
Home
News | Information Technology

February 24, 2022 — Imagine that you are admitted to hospital. A smart scheduling system ensures you have a bed; you ...

Home February 24, 2022
Home
Subscribe Now