Credit: University of Maribor

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A Slovenian review of artificial intelligence (AI) question-answering systems (QAS) in healthcare settings showed patients see them as practical and user-friendly, and they may save practices both time and resources.

Led by Associate Professor Gregor Stiglic, from the Faculty of Health Science at the University of Maribor, the research team reviewed the use of conversational agents, such as chatbots, avatars and robots, for disease screening, triage, counselling, health management and training. Psychiatry used QAS the most, representing 30% of the studies reviewed, followed by preventative medicine (11%) and general healthcare (10%). Eyecare was not specifically represented.

Researchers concluded that study participants who experienced interactions with speech and augmented reality, as well as interactions with text-based conversational agents, reported higher user engagement and involvement. The team also noted speech-recognition software is underused by healthcare professionals, who could save time by dictating medical records instead of typing them.