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This story is from the category Health
Date posted: 23/04/2009 A Northeastern researcher has created an empathetic virtual nurse to help patients about to be discharged from a hospital stay understand and follow their care instructions. According to Timothy Bickmore, assistant professor of computer and information science, and the developer of the virtual nurse, ?Post-discharge self-care regimens are typically complex, with the average patient going away with 10 medications and multiple follow-up appointments. The discharge is even more hazardous for patients who have difficulty reading and following basic written medical instructions.? On average, a pre-discharge conversation that outlines care instructions lasts fewer than eight minutes. Yet it?s a significant transition in medical care, intended to transform patients from passive recipients to active participants in their recovery. The virtual nurse Bickmore has developed is designed to give pre-discharge patients more information. The animation can be brought to a patient?s bedside via a computer on a wheeled kiosk. The patient is able to control the interaction with a touch-screen display. Typically, patients spend about 30 minutes with the virtual nurse, reviewing an ?After-Hospital Care Plan? booklet they have been given. See the full Story via external site: www.physorg.com Most recent stories in this category (Health): 01/05/2013: Microelectronics: Taking the heat off microfluidic chips |
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