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Patient Communication AI Practice Hub

  • Writer: Frederick Lewis
    Frederick Lewis
  • Aug 30
  • 2 min read

Updated: 6 days ago


The Problem


For too long, education has focussed on the hard skills, the skills that are easy to quantify and measure. No one teaches us how to relate and communicate. It's expected that we already know. That we should have learnt what we needed in the playground, that this should be enough. Little is taught on it, but it's tested... a LOT. Both in the everyday life, and at key turning points. Both implicitly and explicitly.


There's no field in which communication matters more than healthcare. A miscommunication could lead to misdiagnosis, reduced life spans, unimaginable pain and suffering, or even not realising you are critically ill.


There is some work being done to help this. Guidance to doctors has only recently been updated to insist that they explicitly say the words 'die' and 'death', to prevent beating around the bush and issues that can be caused by a very classic British approach to communication.


Guidance to doctors has only recently been updated to insist that they explicitly say the words 'die' and 'death'.

The Solution


To help address this issue, I teamed up with some medical friends from uni to develop a training platform 'OpthalmoPrep'. Our target entry market is Ophthalmology trainees (eye doctors) who need to practice patient communication skills for specialty training interviews. We are looking to scale this to other disciplines.


The key features are:

  • Scheduling between users to meet

  • Meeting during which users role play patient interaction

  • Meetings are recorded and assessed by an LLM to highlight strengths and weaknesses




Scheduling


Users can post meetings at chosen time and date, other users can book these meetings
Users can post meetings at chosen time and date, other users can book these meetings

Users receive a calendar invite once they have a confirmed meeting
Users receive a calendar invite once they have a confirmed meeting



Meeting



Users meet in video meeting and select a case study
Users meet in video meeting and select a case study


The candidate gets a minimal history on the patient, and has to role play the doctor and diagnose the patient
The candidate gets a minimal history on the patient, and has to role play the doctor and diagnose the patient

The actor is playing the patient and given a more lengthy brief
The actor is playing the patient and given a more lengthy brief



Assessment


Users get an assessment for each session
Users get an assessment for each session


Each assessment has an overview, highlighting key strengths and weaknesses across the 5 categories
Each assessment has an overview, highlighting key strengths and weaknesses across the 5 categories

Each category gives detailed evidence in the form of quotes from the interaction
Each category gives detailed evidence in the form of quotes from the interaction





 
 
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