SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--i-Human Patients, Inc. (IHP) today introduced significant enhancements to its virtual training platform that improve the patient history taking functions during simulated patient encounters. The new Semantic Natural Language and Speech Recognition Engine allows users to ask questions of patients, witnesses, relatives, or bystanders using natural language and speech. By taking a detailed medical and family history of their virtual patient, users can develop core competencies that help them quickly arrive at an accurate diagnosis.
Understanding a patient’s history is the most important component of a clinical encounter. In more than 80 percent of doctor-patient interactions, the cause of the patient’s medical problem can be identified largely by compiling a quality medical history.
“The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) new report, “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care,” highlights the enormous issue the nation faces: Most Americans will experience at least one misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis in their lifetime. To correct this problem, the IOM recommends enhanced health care professional education and training in the diagnostic process,” said Norm Wu, CEO of IHP. “The Semantic Natural Language Engine realistically simulates patient history gathering to help users work on their interaction with patients and quietly develop and strengthen diagnostic competencies. ”
Users of i-Human Patients can now ask questions of their virtual patient in any of three ways. The first option allows users to navigate through organized taxonomies of questions to understand the history-taking structure. These nested lists assist users in selecting questions that would be appropriate for the patient’s medical complaint. A second option allows users to search for questions by keyword or phrase. For example, a student can prompt i-Human to show questions related to “cough” or “shortness of breath.”
In the third option, the Semantic Natural Language and Speech Recognition Engine allows users to ask questions of patients by either typing a question -- or speaking, if using the Chrome browser -- in their own voice. The Engine proposes the best question match, and dynamically learns and refines responses to the proposed questions. For instance, users asking a child patient “How much does your belly hurt?” would prompt the question “How severe (1-10 scale) is the pain in your abdomen?” [Click here for a demonstration.]
After collecting a patient’s history, users receive individualized and comprehensive expert feedback on the quality of their patient history performance, including which questions should have been considered and if any question was irrelevant.
“Thorough questioning and attentive listening can lead to a diagnosis in less than 15 minutes,” said Craig Knoche, President and Co-Founder of IHP. “Sir William Osler, co-founder of Johns Hopkins Hospital and the father of modern medicine, once said ‘Listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis.’ One of our main objectives is to train future doctors, nurses, and physician assistants in the art of history taking.”
The i-Human Patients Semantic Natural Language Engine, speech recognition, and other history taking enhancements to the i-Human Patients virtual platform are now available to all i-Human Patients users.
About i-Human Patients, Inc.
i-Human Patients, Inc. develops educational and competency assessment technology for the health care professional market, including its flagship i-Human Patients® platform, launched in November 2012. Cloud-based and interactive, the i-Human case player improves and evaluates competencies using active learning strategies and content developed by almost 100 leading educators.
IHP is collaborating with the Reliance Foundation, an Indian not-for-profit organization that has provided generous support to enhance the i-Human platform and add numerous new simulated patient encounter cases. The partnership aims to provide high-quality virtual health care training to students and clinicians, and equip health care professionals to achieve greater standards of excellence. IHP has also received financial support from the National Science Foundation and the American Medical Association. i-Human Patients, Inc. is based in Sunnyvale, California.
