Procedure Followup Instructions

Printed instructions after a surgical procedure can be confusing. After a practice uploads the instructions into the AI agent, Procedure Followup Instructions gives those instructions by text & voice.

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Inspiration:

As a retired physician, I have been on both sides of the stethoscope. I have undergone several minor as well as major medical procedures. After each procedure, I was given printed discharge instructions that even as a physician, I found to be complicated, with daily changes in wound care, activity, diet, medications related to the procedure, and other components. Eye surgeries can be especially problematic. For over 9 years, I have been a strong advocate for using the Vocal User Interface (VUI), so it was only natural that I developed an Alexa Skill (My Follow Up Care) to access those instructions several years ago. However, a big hurdle for its adoption by a surgical practice was that a person would have to enter the instructions into a MySQL database through the PHP portal I built. Consequently, I recently leveraged AI (ChatGPT) to streamline the process and have named the enhanced application Procedure Followup Instructions. It enables the surgical practice to upload the printed instruction sheet, review how the AI extraction process has organized those instructions into components and then enter the clinician-approved instructions into the MySQL database. A Patient Portal gives the patient access to these instructions by clicking a button or speaking their request. They then hear the response and see it in text.

What it does: There are really 2 parts to my application:

  1. PHP Portal to enter & edit physicians, procedures, and instructions.
  2. An MCP to enable the patient to access those instructions by component and day after the procedure.

How we built it:

I used ChatGPT to create an enhanced procedure-instruction extraction process. I was extremely impressed that it made sure I included a clinical person reviewing the AI-organized instructions before they get entered. I added a button to the Practice Portal I built several years ago with PHP.

ChatGPT also helped me build the Patient Portal & a functional MCP.

Challenges we ran into:

Primarily learning how to create the MCP & use Lightsail.

Accomplishments that we're proud of:

Improving how a surgical practice can easily upload their printed post-procedure instruction document and have AI organize it. The entry is not complete until someone in the practice reviews the instructions, edits or deletes where appropriate, and gives final approval for database entry.

I am also proud of the Patient Portal, which enables the patient to hear & see instructions that are organized.

What we learned:

How to create an MCP & use Lightsail.

What's next for Procedure Followup Instructions:

Build the functionality so that each practice using it can create its own account with a username & password, enable a household to use the MCP interface for more than one procedure, and find practices willing to evaluate it. Eventually, when Amazon grants me access to build for Alexa+, I hope to create an Alexa+ Skill as another way for a patient to access their instructions.

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