Orbita, the provider of healthcare's most powerful conversational AI platform, announced today that it is now offering OrbitaASSIST, an award-winning, voice-enabled, AI-driven bedside virtual health assistant.

This market-proven solution offers an alternative or adjunct to traditional nurse call systems. Using a smart speaker configured with OrbitaASSIST, the patient can say things like "tell the nurse I need a pillow," or "tell the nurse I've fallen."  Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning operate on the backend to triage, prioritize, and intelligently route requests to appropriate care team members who view requests on mobile, tablet, or desktop devices. The patient hears a natural language response such as "someone will bring you a pillow soon," or "we've raised an alarm with the nurse."

Leading OrbitaASSIST initiatives is Nick White, who was recently named Orbita's Executive Vice President of Patient Care Solutions. White complements the Orbita team with deep expertise in helping transform operations via technology following a nearly two-decade career with Deloitte Consulting in Australia, the UK, and Southeast Asia.

"This solution was designed to solve a very real challenge for in-facility care settings where patients struggle to communicate their needs with busy care staff," White stated." By giving the patient a 'voice' through conversational AI, the specific information in a request can be processed, prioritized, and routed to the right care team member in the right place at the right time," he stated.

According to White, in the solution's first 18 months of pilot operation including use at Sydney, Australia-based Prince of Wales Hospital, more than 8,000 patient requests were made. "Research shows the value of OrbitaASSIST in facilitating early identification of critical care needs and dramatically reducing the median time of response to calls for help – by as much as 70%," he said. "The earliest adopters of this advanced bedside communication solution also saw a reduction in falls and other hospital acquired complications."

High satisfaction scores came from surveyed users of the solution, where 87% of nurses reported feeling more confident in their ability to appropriately respond to patient requests and 100% of patients surveyed wanting it available if hospitalized again.

"This is a true reflection of digital transformation and a great day for the future of healthcare," said Orbita CEO Bill Rogers. "Orbita's focus is to transform lives through the power of voice and conversational AI. We plan to see this market-proven solution used by as many patients, consumers, residents and healthcare workers as possible, in order to enhance patient care journeys and yield new efficiencies."

Using the hands-free, self-service approach of OrbitaASSIST, patients can receive immediate responses to requests, confirm next steps, access educational information, get answers to FAQs, and more.  Clinicians can practice more fully at their top of license as AI-powered virtual assistance helps prioritize requests and facilitate aligned responses by various members of the caregiving team. 

"This solution helps move the needle forward in Orbita's commitment to improving people's lives," White said. "We're incredibly proud of this offering and look forward to scaling it to its fullest potential. Orbita has proven itself as a trailblazer in conversational AI in healthcare. Watch for things to move quickly as we execute our go-to-market strategy."

Orbita is now working with hospital providers as well as senior living and community-based care organizations in North America and Europe to provide the technology to patients and nurses. 

In its use across various care settings, this solution received more than 25 awards including a Good Design Award, the national iAward for Research and Development, a 2019 Webby for Technical Achievement in Voice, the AMY's Trail Blazing Product of the Year, and a Prime Award for Excellence in Patient Support.  

"This underpins radical change in communication and workflow in care environments to better support clinicians and caregivers in the critical work they do every day," stated Rogers, who was recently named a 2019 Top 11 Influencer in Voice Technology by Voicebot.ai, a leading research and news outlet covering voice assistants.

White and Rogers recently presented an Orbita webinar titled The Power of Voice: Will AI-Driven Bedside Virtual Health Assistants Become Mainstream? Access the archived version here.