Virtual nurse explains discharge process

The software features a computer-animated nurse, called Louise, who talks patients though the hospital discharge process and assesses their understanding of medical instructions.

’Post-discharge self-care regimens are typically complex, with the average patient going away with 10 medications and multiple follow-up appointments,’ said Bickmore. ’The discharge is even more hazardous for patients who have difficulty reading and following basic written medical instructions.’

Despite this level of complexity, he said, the average pre-discharge conversation outlining care instructions lasts fewer than eight minutes.

According to Dr Brian Jack, a physician at the Boston Medical Center, nearly 20 per cent of discharged patients are eventually readmitted to the hospital within a month as a result of low health literacy and insufficient knowledge of self-care medical instructions. Nearly 30 per cent of these readmissions are preventable with a more complete reinforcement of discharge directions, said Jack. Reducing these preventable readmissions not only means healthier patients, but also lower healthcare costs.