High Satisfaction With a Virtual Assistant for Plastic Surgery Frequently Asked Questions

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• Patient Education Technology

Background:

• Surgeon's office time is significantly consumed by patient education, impacting the patient-physician relationship.
• Telephone-accessed artificial intelligent virtual assistants (AIVAs) offer a solution by simulating conversation and answering preoperative frequently asked questions (FAQs).
• A previously developed AIVA for plastic surgery FAQs serves as the basis for this study.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess patient perception and satisfaction with an artificial intelligent virtual assistant (AIVA) designed for preoperative plastic surgery inquiries.

Main Methods:

• A survey was administered to 26 adult plastic surgery patients.
• The survey evaluated the correctness of AIVA's answers and patient agreement on feasibility, usefulness, and future applications.
• Data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel 2010.

Main Results:

• The AIVA demonstrated high accuracy, answering 98.5% of patient questions correctly, with
• nausea
• being the least accurate topic.
• 88% of patients reported positive perceptions and high overall satisfaction with the AIVA.
• Patients showed least agreement with using the AIVA for surgical procedure selection, with comments offering areas for improvement.

Conclusions:

• Patients reported high satisfaction and a positive experience using the AIVA for preoperative plastic surgery FAQs.
• The AIVA system is highly accurate and effective in addressing patient concerns before surgery.