Understanding Physician's Experience with Conversational Interfaces during Occupational Health Consultation

This paper presents an exploratory study on using conversational interfaces (CIs) to support physicians in conducting occupational health consultations. The CI was achieved through a web-based information dashboard with a chatbot assistant for providing real-time suggestions through text messages. Two system designs were developed: the first using a proactive chatbot, the second using an on-demand type of interaction. The effectiveness of the proposed CI and the two types of chatbot designs were investigated in a field study consisted of eight healthcare consultations. Quantitative results showed that the CI was positively evaluated as a reliable tool to be used during medical consultations and that occupational health physicians were eager to use this technology in their work. The qualitative data analysis suggested that our design concept might improve the workflow during the consultation, particularly with respect to the access to relevant information and structured decision-making processes using valuable references. The on-demand, lightweight type of chatbot interaction was better perceived than the proactive one. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for the future development of occupational health consultation based on CI and their potential contribution to computer-assisted, data-driven healthcare.