MONTREAL, June 28, 2018 /CNW/ - Chronic illnesses affect millions of Canadians and require them to spend considerable time in hospitals and healthcare centres. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and Greybox Solutions Inc. developed an innovative "virtual assistant" — an Artificial Intelligence (AI) health monitoring solution for Greybox's existing TakeCare secure health monitoring platform — to help patients, their healthcare providers, and caregivers remotely manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

With the help of this virtual assistant, patients can educate themselves and manage their own progress from home, while supporting healthcare professionals in triage procedures. The virtual assistant can guide patients through tasks to collect medical data like health parameters and lifestyle habits, and provide adaptive information based on the patient's emotional and physical state.

In addition to helping patients maintain a healthier lifestyle, the virtual assistant provides data and personalized recommendations to healthcare professionals, which translates to more quality time with doctors during visits instead of time spent filling in forms.

For patients with diseases that require specific and rigorous monitoring, such as diabetes and heart conditions, the virtual assistant is programmed to ask personalized questions targeted to the patient's condition. Data from these interactions is gathered, analysed, organized, and displayed to healthcare professionals in a user-friendly manner, providing them with pertinent patient information on a regular basis.

Greybox, and its clinical partners located across Canada, plan to launch the diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure virtual assistant programs in several hospitals for a commercial deployment late in 2018.

Quotes

"We are proud to participate in this collaboration to provide an accessible digital health monitoring tool for improving the health of Canadians, especially those in remote regions or with reduced mobility. The National Research Council's dedicated and recognized medical devices experts are creating virtual assistant applications that empower patients while creating regular and essential data transfer to their health professionals for more efficient health monitoring."
Dr. Roman Szumski, Vice-President of Life Sciences at the National Research Council of Canada

"We are pleased to be able to count on the National Research Council's expertise to expand our offer to other healthcare areas. Their expertise in the artificial intelligence field and biomedical software engineering, as well as their access to clinicians to guide the development of a product, is a distinct advantage when it comes to developing a product that meets a specific need."
Pierre Bérubé, Founder and CEO, Greybox Solutions Inc.

Quick facts

• By empowering patients to self-monitor their conditions, the intelligent virtual assistant could optimize the patient's time spent with healthcare professionals.
• Improving the general health monitoring of patients is essential for an aging population and for patients living in remote areas where regular health services are less accessible.
• Caregivers can access the intelligent virtual assistant and keep track of patient conditions while obtaining educational information from the platform.

Follow the NRC on Twitter: @NRC_CNRC

Follow Greybox on Twitter: @GreyboxSolution

 

SOURCE National Research Council Canada