Amazon Echo for healthcare

Alexa, what can you do for healthcare? I bought an Amazon Echo this week and have been enjoying using it in the kitchen. I can ask, “Alexa, what time is it in Germany?” and it will tell me. Or I can say, “Alexa, play music by the Beatles,” or ask, “Alexa, how many ounces in a cup?” and it will let me know. It’s remarkably easy –and not at all frustrating– to use. The whole family is enjoying it. Naturally I started almost immediately to think of healthcare uses, so I wasn’t at all surprised to pick up the Boston Globe yesterday and see that my friends from Boston Children’s Hospital are a step or two ahead. Chief Innovation Officer John Brownstein, PhD and clinical innovation director Michael Docktor, MD have launched a KidsMD app for the platform and are testing out uses for Echo in the OR, ICU and bedroom. Although the article lays out some of the potential for Echo, overall I find it too dismissive, highlighting a software glitch, voice recognition problem, and asserting that “another layer of technology might frustrate staff.” The article ends with a quote from a Children’s engineer whose own kids aren’t interested in speaking with Alexa. None of this reflects my family’s experience. What the article misses is that Echo represents the latest example of physicians bringing cutting edge consumer technology into the hospital and running circles around the standard tools of...
Source: Health Business Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Devices Hospitals Technology amazon echo Source Type: blogs