Client story
Rigshospitalet and 2021.AI: Enhancing healthcare with a Virtual AI Assistant
Bridging the information gap: AI in healthcare
Rigshospitalet, a leading hospital in Denmark, recognized that patients often struggle to access or understand critical information about their upcoming procedures. Important information is too often overheard or misunderstood by patients affecting their experiences, quality of treatment, and usage of hospital resources negatively. To address these challenges, the hospital sought to improve the preoperative experience for thyroid cancer patients within their ENT department.
The AI-powered solution: A Virtual Assistant for patient support
2021.AI collaborated with Rigshospitalet to develop and implement a Virtual AI Assistant, a language model-based solution designed to answer patient questions about their upcoming thyroid surgery. Trained on clinically approved data and programmed to avoid sensitive topics like diagnosis or prognosis, the Virtual AI Assistant serves as a reliable source of information.
Building trust with responsible AI
The project team prioritized clinical, governance, and security standards, as well as responsible AI principles, throughout development. Rigshospitalet’s surgeons actively participated in testing the Virtual AI Assistant, ensuring its responses aligned with their expertise and the hospital’s specific procedures. A virtual assistant (LLM) based on key information from clinical staff, combined with governance and transparency to ensure accuracy and builds trust and confidence that the virtual assistant acts in line with hospital values and interests.
Transforming the patient experience with AI
The Virtual AI Assistant will bring significant improvements in patient care at Rigshospitalet:
- Improved patient preparation: The Virtual AI Assistant gives patients instant access to accurate and relevant information, enhancing their understanding of the surgery and reducing anxiety.
- Health equality: The Virtual AI Assistant provides information in various formats, promoting equitable access to healthcare information for all patients.
- Efficient use of resources: The Virtual AI Assistant reduces the burden on healthcare staff, allowing them to focus on more complex patient needs, improving patient experience and quality of the treatment, and hospital efficiency. On top, it fuels innovation.
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“With the help of AI, we can provide support and guidance even outside of our regular opening hours. The purpose is to create patient-centeredness, security, and tranquility for the patient, their loved ones, and ourselves as healthcare providers.
Prioritizing safety and transparency with responsible AI in healthcare
Patient safety remains the most important thing. The Virtual AI Assistant only references clinically approved data sources, which are clearly listed with each response. All interactions with the Virtual AI Assistant are logged for full transparency and traceability.
The collaboration between Rigshospitalet and 2021.AI highlights the potential of AI to revolutionize healthcare. The Virtual AI Assistant is a powerful example of how AI can be used to improve patient experience, promote health equity, and optimize efficiency in hospital operations.