Researcher explores using AI to overcome language barriers with patients

Researcher explores using AI to overcome language barriers with patients
JAMA Network; Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH; Kate Schweitzer; 12/24
In the US, 25 million people with language barriers receive worse health care by nearly every standard than those who speak English fluently. In a recent Viewpoint in JAMA, K. Casey Lion, MD, MPH, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, listed the poorer-quality outcomes: inferior comprehension, lower adherence, higher costs, and more frequent serious safety events, to name a few. In this study, we want to understand how it performs under real-world conditions because those are the conditions we would be using it in. I would also encourage other health care systems that are thinking about implementing AI for language access to think about talking to and involving their patients and families in the work to be sure that it’s reflecting what our patients and families actually want rather than what we think they want.