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When hospitals feel the strain, health care chatbots prove useful

Published October 4, 2021 at 1:40 PM EDT

Example chat message from the Scout symptom checker. (Courtesy of GYANT)

The pandemic has placed a massive strain on hospitals and health care workers, but could technology help lighten that burden?

Health care chatbots have exploded in use during the pandemic as a way for hospitals to triage patients by answering health-related questions and directing them to the next step — either making a doctor’s appointment or going to the emergency room.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong speaks with Stefan Behrens, CEO of GYANT which created a chatbot named Scout. Tong also talks with Adam Palanica, a behavioral scientist at Klick Applied Sciences who conducted a survey of 100 physicians who used chatbots.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.