Using a chatbot can help reduce patient uncertainty. This is shown by research based on more than 158.000 interactions with the Buoy Chatbot, a free platform. The results of the study were recently published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study also found that patients using the platform were more likely to lower their demand for care. That writes ICT&Health.

The level of uncertainty among patients about their health problems decreased after using the chatbot and the platform from 34 to 21 percent. The urgency of the care demand decreased for almost a third (32%) of the users. Researchers looked at a dataset of 158.083 interactions with the Buoy Health chatbot.

In 4 percent of the cases, patients indicated that using the platform increased the urgency of the care demand. And almost two thirds (65%) the level of urgency remained unchanged. The most common concerns for which patients used the chatbot and the platform related to reproductive health (18%), followed by general (17%) and gastrointestinal (15%) conditions.

Patients can report any problems or symptoms to the Buoy Health chatbot. Users were asked in advance what their intended level of care was. They chose from a list of seven options: ER, urgent care, primary care, telemedicine, self-treatment, wait and see, and not sure. Afterwards, users were again asked the same question, according to the publication JAMA.

The use of chatbots in healthcare is a trend that is becoming increasingly popular. Various applications are already active in the Netherlands, such as the Amsterdam UMC and health insurer DSW. Another major player in this field is Babylon Health, a triage chatbot based partly on AI technology.

ICT Health notes that it is striking that the authors of the study write in their closing words that their findings differ from the results of many other solutions for remote care.

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