Health Care Center

The Context

Zylker Medical Center is a full-service, non-profit, 635-bed tertiary health care center located north east of Oklahoma on the historic Route 66. The center provides a full spectrum of services, ranging from high-risk neonatology to senior care, with over 80,000 total admissions a year. After the COVID outbreak, Zylker wanted to evaluate the vaccination history of their patients and help them register for a COVID test before being admitted for non-COVID illness. This is to identify patients incubating the virus who don't yet show symptoms.

"We limit the risk of exposure by conducting COVID-19 tests on high-risk patients with a scheduled surgery, procedure, or hospital admission. This protocol is essential since COVID patients are at higher risk for severe complications after medical procedures. It also ensures that all of our patients and staff are safe," says Nancy Caroline, the CEO of Zylker Medical Center, Tulsa, OK.

Right now, patients visit the front desk or fill in a visitor form on the center's website to select their admission type and date, enter their vaccination status, and register for COVID tests if necessary.

Requirements

Zylker wants to free up its front office folks from handling admission-related requests and COVID assessments. The pandemic has also prompted them to deploy fully automated kiosks to manage patient registration, appointment booking, registering vaccine status, applying for diagnostic tests, and much more.

The medical center wants to offer an unattended alternative that guides patients through their initial stages of inquiries and works both on the web and in kiosks. "If we could deploy a solution that appeals to both young and old patients, it will be a big win for us," says Caroline.

Features in use

Guided Conversations

Create a Guided Conversations flow for COVID assessment of patients

Zylker Medical Center could utilize the power of Guided Conversations (GC) for COVID vaccine assessment of its patients and deliver other patient-related services. Zylker can create and publish a predefined GC flow on their website and in their kiosks that directs their patients to carry out the following services:

Select a Guided Conversation flow

How to create a GC flow for COVID assessment of patients

Introduction and patient validation

An introduction or welcome message is triggered when a patient encounters the chatbot on the center's website or in the kiosks. The chatbot asks the patient whether they are new or returning. Returning patients must enter their Patient ID to authenticate and proceed. If the patient enters a valid ID, the bot proceeds to list the various services. If not, it prompts them to re-enter a valid ID.

If the patient is new to the medical center, the bot prompts them to enter their name, date of birth, gender, phone number, and email address. Once entered, the bot creates and assigns them a new Patient ID.

Service options

The bot continues with the question, "How can I help you today?" and displays the following service options for patients:

When patients choose to book a hospital admission

The bot displays a disclaimer informing the patient that booking a hospital admission requires patients to undergo a COVID assessment that may involve taking a test for suspected exposure to COVID to protect other patients and visitors. Patients can choose to either agree or disagree with the disclaimer.

When patients agree to the disclaimer

The bot asks whether they are vaccinated with an accepted COVID-19 vaccine and lists the following options:

When patients choose an option

When patients choose an option from one to three, the bot presents them with a list of accepted COVID vaccines and asks them to select the one they administered. Once they select a vaccine, the bot asks them whether 14 days have passed since they received their single-dose vaccine or the second dose in the two-shot vaccine series.

Based on the above outcome, patients who took an accepted vaccine earlier than two weeks (14 days) are allowed to book an appointment for the hospital admission. Meanwhile, patients who took their vaccine dose within the last two weeks, patients not vaccinated with an accepted vaccine, and those not yet vaccinated are forwarded to register for a COVID diagnostic test.

Registering for a COVID diagnostic test

The bot displays a message that the COVID diagnostic test must be conducted within 72 hours before undergoing admission for surgeries and procedures, and only patients who tested negative can proceed to book an admission. Patients can proceed to register or exit.

When they choose to register, patients will be asked whether they have taken a COVID screening test already; if yes, the bot will ask them to upload the test results. When patients opt to take a test, the bot will ask them to select a date and time for the test. Once chosen, the bot confirms the date and time, and requests payment for the screening test.

Making a payment

The bot displays an info card with a button, which patients must click to make their payment towards the COVID screening test. Once payment is complete, the bot shows the test appointment details.

This is the end of the flow to undergo a COVID vaccine assessment for patients who wish to get hospital admission.