Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
This study evaluates whether an artificial intelligence (AI) conversational agent called MINERVA (Medical Interface for Navigating the Emergency Room with Voice Assistance) can safely and feasibly gather medical histories from emergency department (ED) patients and produce accurate summaries. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can an AI conversational agent gather and summarize patient histories in the emergency department? Are the resulting summaries accurate? Do they capture essential clinical information? Can an AI agent overseeing these conversations independently identify red-flag symptoms that may need time-sensitive clinical interventions? Adult ED patients interact with MINERVA via either voice chat or typing on a keyboard. MINERVA asks them questions about their symptoms and generates a summary which the patients review for accuracy. MINERVA reviews the conversation for clinical red flags that suggest urgent evaluation is required. Participants fill out a survey providing feedback on their experience. The summary is not saved in the medical record and clinical care is not affected. Physician reviewers will evaluate the safety, accuracy, and clinical value of the MINERVA interview transcripts and summaries using standardized rubrics, including whether MINERVA was correct in identifying red-flag symptoms that may need time-sensitive clinical interventions.
This is a single-arm prospective observational cohort study evaluating safety, feasibility, and acceptability of the MINERVA conversational agent for gathering and summarizing patient histories in the emergency department. ED patients who have already been assessed by a triage nurse will be identified by research assistants (RAs) and verbally consented. MINERVA will ask the patient questions about their symptoms, medical history, and risk factors, as well as clarifying questions to highlight pertinent positives and negatives or red flag symptoms. MINERVA will generate a summary at the end of t…
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients aged ≥18 years. * Patient underwent triage in the ED. * English-speaking. Exclusion Criteria: * Critical illness precluding interaction with MINERVA. * Inability to provide consent. * Significant hearing/speech/typing impairments precluding interaction by text or voice. * Prisoners. * Inability to follow study procedures. * Patients requiring isolation precautions incompatible with study procedures.
The MINERVA AI chatbot is AI software that allows patients to provide medical history through text or voice.