DEVELOPMENT AND ANALYSIS OF A CHATBOT: THE CASE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAKHA (YAKUTIA) OPHTHALMOLOGICAL CLINICAL HOSPITAL

The article provides an overview of the areas of application of chatbots, as well as discusses the prospects for their use in the practice of an ophthalmic hospital. A literature review shows that the introduction of a chatbot in the State Autonomous Institution of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) “Yakut Republic’s ophthalmological clinical hospital” (YROCH) was carried out for the first time in the Russian Federation and showed the effectiveness of using modern technologies to increase the availability of information about the services provided, feedback from the medical organization. A scientific hypothesis has been proven that the use of a chatbot as a round-the-clock feedback tool in the YROCH allows you to unload the staff of the contact center of the hospital, improves the economic performance of making an appointment for an initial appointment in the direction of “Paid Services”. The research is divided into three stages. At the first stage, a sociological survey of 209 residents of the city of Yakutsk was conducted, which showed that its population is ready to use modern information technologies. The second stage was the creation of a chat bot based on the Telegram platform and testing it for a month as a feedback tool in the practice of the YROCH. This significantly relieved the work of the Contact Center for registering for paid services, satisfying the needs of patients for round-the-clock information provided. The third, experimental, stage showed significant savings in human and time resources.

Although the adoption of chatbots in the healthcare industry is rather slow, their adaptability to the infrastructure of a medical organization is much faster. Interactive chatbots are playing a new role in improving the efficiency of healthcare professionals. The use of the chatbot in the YROCH had a positive impact on the work of the hospital, informing the population. Efficiency in the application of the organization of paid medical services was confirmed by an increase in economic indicators, an increase in the number of clients undergoing extrabudgetary services, and a decrease in labor costs for the operation of the hospital’s contact center.

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