Beyond Patient Monitoring: Conversational Agents Role in Telemedicine & Healthcare Support For Home-Living Elderly Individuals

TL;DR

This paper explores how AI-powered chatbots can be integrated into telemedicine systems to support elderly patients at home, enhancing healthcare delivery and reducing costs after hospital discharge.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of using chatbots as virtual assistants in telemedicine for elderly care, highlighting their potential to improve patient support and streamline healthcare processes.

Findings

Chatbots can effectively gather patient information and monitor health remotely.

Integration of chatbots can reduce healthcare costs and improve patient engagement.

Chatbots serve as a bridge between patients and clinicians, enhancing communication.

Abstract

There is a need for systems to dynamically interact with ageing populations to gather information, monitor health condition and provide support, especially after hospital discharge or at-home settings. Several smart devices have been delivered by digital health, bundled with telemedicine systems, smartphone and other digital services. While such solutions offer personalised data and suggestions, the real disruptive step comes from the interaction of new digital ecosystem, represented by chatbots. Chatbots will play a leading role by embodying the function of a virtual assistant and bridging the gap between patients and clinicians. Powered by AI and machine learning algorithms, chatbots are forecasted to save healthcare costs when used in place of a human or assist them as a preliminary step of helping to assess a condition and providing self-care recommendations. This paper describes integrating chatbots into telemedicine systems intended for elderly patient after their hospital discharge. The paper discusses possible ways to utilise chatbots to assist healthcare providers and support patients with their condition.