‘Is this symptom normal?’: AI tool for patient questions rolls out in New Brunswick

New Brunswickers who use a virtual health-care app can now access a “conversational AI feature” for cardiac, surgical and maternity care.

Horizon Health says this means patients can type in questions like, “When can I remove my dressing” and “Is this symptom normal?”

“When patients have questions about their care, having access to reliable information is a key component of quality health care,” said Jennifer Sheils, VP of Strategy, Transformation and Chief Innovation Officer with Horizon Health, in a statement.

“This new feature allows them to ask questions and get sound information anytime, including outside of normal business hours when they may not be able to contact their care provider or team.”

The AI-driven feature is called Seamless Answers, which is part of the SeamlessMD app.

The app helps patients monitor their recovery after surgery, sends reminders and offers educational resources. It was created by a team in Toronto and is used by hospitals and health systems in North America, including the Nova Scotia Health Authority.

Horizon Health launched the app for its patients in 2023, and says 7,700 patients have signed up so far.

The app’s co-founder, Dr. Joshua Liu, says the artificial intelligence component allows the app to better help patients outside regular business hours.

“We know patients are asking questions at night or 3 in the morning when they can’t typically get those questions answered,” he told Global News.

“At least so far, it seems like we are filling that real vacuum, a real gap in what’s available for patients.”

Liu says the chatbot will only pull information from the education library within SeamlessMD.

“It’s not answering based on any information from the open internet. It’s only answering based upon the patient education that’s been approved by the health-care team,” he said.

“For example, if you are a patient who had heart surgery at Horizon, the answers you’re getting from Seamless Answers are based on only content the heart surgery team at Horizon has actually customized and approved for you.”

He says common questions may be about the side effects of a medication or when someone can drive after surgery.

He adds that there are limitations to what the AI can help with.

“If the patient said, ‘Hey I have a fever, what should I do about it?’ Typically the AI would say, ‘Actually, for something like that you should be speaking to your nurse,'” Liu said.

He says any data collected through these answers is being store securely and is not being used to train any other models.

Importance of AI literacy

Acadia University psychology professor, Daniel Lametti, who teaches a course on AI use, encourages users to use AI thoughtfully and keep limitations in mind.

“I think a lot of folks are going to the internet, going to Google, going to ChatGPT, going into Claude to ask medical questions, right? So in that sense, a tool like this, it makes sense in that you can provide it with doctor-vetted information that it then uses to generate responses,” he said.

“But we also have to think a little bit about how these AI systems work, right?”

He says “any AI system will once in a while produce errors,” and believes informed decision-making is important.

“If you’re using systems like this, it’s something you have to keep in mind. And this is where AI literacy, understanding how these tools work, is really important,” he said.

According to Horizon, Vitalité Health Network has also implemented Seamless Answers, making New Brunswick the first province in Atlantic Canada to offer this feature across all health-care regions.

— with files from Johnny James