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Interactive voice response system improved clinical visits
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Interactive voice response systems, like the Personal Health Partner, have the potential to improve clinical screening, counseling and medication management, according to study findings in Pediatrics.
William G. Adams, MD, of Boston University and Boston Medical Center, and colleagues assessed whether the Personal Health Partner (PHP) improved the quality of primary care visits for clinicians and parents. Children aged 4 months to 11 years were randomized to receive PHP with counseling (n=293) or interactive voice response technologies (IVR) (n=182). Children who received IVR served as the control.
IVR guides parents at home through interactive, speech-based discussions that gather information and reinforce recommendations and treatments. PHP is an automated conversational system used before routine health care visits. PHP uses synthetic speech and spoken responses to engage patients outside the clinical environment via telephone, according to the study results.
PHP calls had a longer average duration than IVR calls, 29.3 minutes vs. 17.3 minutes.
Most parents liked both PHP and IVR systems, but indicated that they liked each system because it could be used at home via telephone. Forty percent of parents reported they would prefer a web-based approach. Fewer PHP parents felt the call’s duration was reasonable compared with IVR parents, 74% vs. 90%.
PHP parents were more likely to feel “more prepared” for the health care visit than IVR parents: 81% vs. 67%. PHP parents were also more likely to report the use of PHP reduced their visit time compared with parents who received IVR.
Clinicians also had a positive response to PHP. The majority of clinicians reported that PHP was easy to use, increased documentation completeness, reminded them to do things they otherwise would forget and improved visit efficiency.
Forty percent of clinicians reported PHP helped with medication management. Thirty percent reported PHP improved medication safety.
“Systems like PHP can enhance adherence to guidelines and improve the availability of needed patient information. Counseling, which is tailored and based on existing data, has the potential to promote and encourage healthy behaviors that in turn could support national efforts to address multiple evidenced-based primary care topics,” the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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