Scribe: improving older adults' access to medical instructions from patient-physician conversations

Abstract

During doctor's visits, the medical conversations shared often contain essential instructions and tailored advice necessary for daily care, particularly among older adults who manage chronic illnesses. However, some older adult patients face barriers and accessibility challenges that limits their access to shared information. Current research to improve access to instructions provided during patient-physician conversations focuses on methods such as one-to-one sessions that can be applied during the visit but are not available after the session ends. Electronic health portals provide access to some information after the visit, but many older patients find it challenging to navigate and access information through portals. To address the limitations of existing methods, this paper introduces a prototype called Scribe that provides older patients with access to the transcripts of medical conversations associated with multiple doctors' visits. Scribe automatically creates notes from doctors' visits that contain key information to assist individuals in navigating through information. In a study with 10 older adults, we examined Scribe's perceived usefulness for improving access to medical conversations. Findings suggest Scribe's potential to help older patients better access shared information from doctors' visits as well as support their relationships with caregivers. We contribute considerations for improving older adults future access to medical instructions using similar technologies.