IBM is poised to change how hospitals operate

Most of us have heard by now of IBM’s artificial intelligence, mainly from its much-publicized public beating of Jeopardy master Ken Jennings. But did you know this advanced AI is busy behind the scenes revolutionizing our healthcare system?

That’s right, earlier this year IBM’s Watson group teamed up with Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Inc. and Harman International to conceptualize a future of healthcare that could change everything.

Imagine hospitals having “cognitive concierge” services that can interact with patients in their room to answer questions, change environmental controls, or monitor vital systems.

A patient lying in the bed might turn to a microphone built into their bedside. “I’m a little cold,” they say. “Also, can you raise the blinds a bit, it’s pretty dark in here.”

Then, as if by magic the heat kicks on and the blinds rise. Comfortable, the patient settles back into their chair, contemplating their next meal. “What’s on the lunch menu today?” the patient asks. A calm voice reads back a list of menu options from a speaker built in to the other side of the patient’s bed.

How imagine there is a visitor sitting across the room. “What are the visiting hours tomorrow?” they ask. The same voice then calmly reads the hours back from the speaker.

The goal is to get to a point where these cognitive concierges, no more than digital assistants, fade into the background to such a point where the patient doesn’t even realize they are there. Interactions suddenly become much more natural, patient satisfaction improves and everybody is happy.

But how soon before we see these innovations working in practice at a hospital near us? While only time will tell, if IBM has anything to say about it, it’ll be sooner rather than later.