Palanica Adam, Flaschner Peter, Thommandram Anirudh, Li Michael, Fossat Yan
Labs Department, Klick Health, Klick Inc, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Marketing Department, Klick Health, Klick Inc, Toronto, ON, Canada.
J Med Internet Res. 2019 Apr 5;21(4):e12887. doi: 10.2196/12887.
Many potential benefits for the uses of chatbots within the context of health care have been theorized, such as improved patient education and treatment compliance. However, little is known about the perspectives of practicing medical physicians on the use of chatbots in health care, even though these individuals are the traditional benchmark of proper patient care.
This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of physicians regarding the use of health care chatbots, including their benefits, challenges, and risks to patients.
A total of 100 practicing physicians across the United States completed a Web-based, self-report survey to examine their opinions of chatbot technology in health care. Descriptive statistics and frequencies were used to examine the characteristics of participants.
A wide variety of positive and negative perspectives were reported on the use of health care chatbots, including the importance to patients for managing their own health and the benefits on physical, psychological, and behavioral health outcomes. More consistent agreement occurred with regard to administrative benefits associated with chatbots; many physicians believed that chatbots would be most beneficial for scheduling doctor appointments (78%, 78/100), locating health clinics (76%, 76/100), or providing medication information (71%, 71/100). Conversely, many physicians believed that chatbots cannot effectively care for all of the patients' needs (76%, 76/100), cannot display human emotion (72%, 72/100), and cannot provide detailed diagnosis and treatment because of not knowing all of the personal factors associated with the patient (71%, 71/100). Many physicians also stated that health care chatbots could be a risk to patients if they self-diagnose too often (714%, 74/100) and do not accurately understand the diagnoses (74%, 74/100).
Physicians believed in both costs and benefits associated with chatbots, depending on the logistics and specific roles of the technology. Chatbots may have a beneficial role to play in health care to support, motivate, and coach patients as well as for streamlining organizational tasks; in essence, chatbots could become a surrogate for nonmedical caregivers. However, concerns remain on the inability of chatbots to comprehend the emotional state of humans as well as in areas where expert medical knowledge and intelligence is required.
在医疗保健领域使用聊天机器人的诸多潜在益处已被理论化，比如改善患者教育和治疗依从性。然而，尽管执业医师是提供恰当患者护理的传统标杆，但对于他们对在医疗保健中使用聊天机器人的看法却知之甚少。
本研究旨在调查医师对使用医疗保健聊天机器人的看法，包括其益处、挑战以及对患者的风险。
美国共有100名执业医师完成了一项基于网络的自我报告调查，以审视他们对医疗保健中聊天机器人技术的看法。使用描述性统计和频率来考察参与者的特征。
关于使用医疗保健聊天机器人，报告了各种各样的积极和消极看法，包括对患者管理自身健康的重要性以及对身体、心理和行为健康结果的益处。对于与聊天机器人相关的管理益处，看法更为一致；许多医师认为聊天机器人在安排医生预约（78%，78/100）、查找健康诊所（76%，76/100）或提供用药信息（71%，71/100）方面最有益。相反，许多医师认为聊天机器人无法有效满足患者的所有需求（76%，76/100），无法展现人类情感（72%，72/100），并且由于不了解与患者相关的所有个人因素而无法提供详细的诊断和治疗（71%，71/100）。许多医师还表示，如果医疗保健聊天机器人过于频繁地进行自我诊断（74%，74/100）且不能准确理解诊断结果（74%，74/100），可能会给患者带来风险。
医师认为聊天机器人既有成本也有益处，这取决于该技术的后勤保障和具体作用。聊天机器人在医疗保健中可能发挥有益作用，以支持、激励和指导患者以及简化组织任务；从本质上讲，聊天机器人可以成为非医疗护理人员的替代者。然而，对于聊天机器人无法理解人类情感状态以及在需要专业医学知识和智慧的领域，担忧依然存在。
