Flu Doctor Ambulatory Pilot
The Digital Health team wanted to continue to promote and build trust in the Alexa Flu Doctor skill built in partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital. After meeting with senior leaders, we also wanted to support our USNWR rankings on flu vaccine uptake. We piloted 4 devices in an ambulatory waiting area over the course of 5 months. We targeted patients at high risk of flu-related complications (diabetes, pulmonology, and kidney/liver transplant).
Goals
- Build trust in the science and safety of the flu vaccine.
- Gain approval for the first ever voice-enabled pilot inside a patient-facing space in a children’s hospital.
- Support flu vaccination rates & education efforts at Seattle Children’s.
- Work to unravel challenges with getting smart speakers inside the hospital environment.
Findings & Reach
| Number of Times Flu Doctor Was Opened: |
239 |
|---|---|
| Total Invocations Within Flu Doctor Skill: |
785 |
| Extrapolated Total Number of Invocations With Devices (ANY question asked to Alexa + Flu Doctor): |
5,500 |
Conclusions
- Using Alexa For Business helped us lock down our devices but didn’t offer ideal analytics.
- Only 4 total devices went missing, worth the investment in hardware.
- Aligning our project with a major hospital initiative that was on a tight deadline helped us gain approvals quickly.
- User testimonials were all positive. We did not receive a single complaint from a patient/family about the devices in the waiting areas.
- Adding signage to teach users how to open the skill was helpful.
“I like having the device here in the waiting area, it’s cool.”
“It would be cool if you could schedule appointments.”
“I wish I could learn more about my son’s diagnosis through it.”
“My son is high-risk, so I appreciate the efforts being made here around vaccination.”
“I’m debating buying an Alexa for our house. I like talking to it.”
5 or 6 year old boy asked his mom about the Alexa. His mom told him to say, “Alexa, open flu doctor”. He did and it worked, he was excited.
