Grandkid.club

We aim to make routine healthcare easier and more accessible to older Canadians through the use of artificial intelligence.

From the time a doctor writes a prescription to the time a patient takes the first pill, there are plenty of opportunities to get confused. When a new exercise is suggested, does it actually get performed at home? Small confusions can often lead to phone calls to the office, but it is hard to get through and nobody there has much time.

In a multi-generational home, it is easy to say "grandma, did you take your meds this morning?" but fewer and fewer of us live near aging parents and grandparents. Technology can never take the place of that, but we can fill in some of the gaps with digital grandkids.

AI avatars can be fun to talk to, and imbued with a small amount of context can take the first line of questions to relieve the burden on overworked office staff. The medium doesn't matter too much - if a patient is most comfortable with a phone call they can call in to the office, have the number that they are calling from recognized, and automatically be connected to an avatar that is familiar with their chart. If they use an ipad or a smartphone, this is an even more direct way of connecting.

We have come a long way from frustrating automated phone trees. Today a personalized system can offer personalized answers. But at some point we need to connect to an actual person. The avatar can help with scheduling an appointment for routine matters, but it can also screen calls and then route through to appropriate humans depending on the nature of the issue. In some cases that may be the office staff, in some cases a nurse or physiotherapist. In some cases it may just be a friendly volunteer or a student job to have a discussion with a lonely elder.

Other technology can help provide even more context. Maybe it is a smart pillbox that can tell when it was last opened, or an e-paper calendar to stick on the fridge. The more the personalized avatar can know about what is going on, the more specific its assistance can be. This project aims to explore the interfaces of personalized care by automated avatars.