Hospitals and health systems initially began using voice assistants like those created by Apple, Google, Amazon and others to make patients' stays more convenient. However, such devices may become more widely used and accepted in the industry during the next decade, STAT News reports.
Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa may become a staple in intensive care units and surgical recovery rooms, acting as a virtual member of the medical team by monitoring patient-provider interactions, suggesting potential treatment options or alerting caregivers to potential health risks.
Boston Children's Hospital, for example, is piloting several projects incorporating voice application technology to improve efficiency in the ICU and help physicians prepare for surgeries. In March, Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y., plans to put Alexa in private rooms to allow patients to access their medical records.
"We believe that the technology that exists in patients' homes will be a demand that patients will have sooner than later," Vishwanath Anantraman, MD, chief innovation architect at Northwell Health, told STAT. "Voice tech can help improve service requests and deliver real-time analytics to the staff to ensure patient satisfaction and patient safety."
Several startups have also created HIPAA-compliant voice software for hospitals to use with their EMR systems. Such products would make it easier for both patients and providers to access medical records and ease the documentation burdens placed on physicians.
However, not all industry experts believe voice tech will be incorporated in large-scale projects or replace current industry tech like EMRs.
"I do not think in the near, medium, or long future the EMR is going to be replaced with a voice-enabled application. Like many technologies before this, the important part will be that we don't get too far ahead with the hype. Voice is a wonderfully empowering technology, but we have to figure out how it finds its rightful place," Darren Dworkin, senior vice president of enterprise information services and CIO of Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles, told the publication.
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