Development of educational system for paramedics specializing to dementia elderlies analyzed by artificial intelligence and its learning effects

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundWhile the number of emergency transfer of dementia elderlies to acute care hospitals has being increasing, paramedics are facing challenges to perform their duties promptly due to difficult communication with patients.ObjectivesTo develop the standardized educational system for paramedics specializing to dementia elderlies with the use of artificial intelligence.DesignSingle arm, pre‐post study. Participants are paramedics in a metropolitan area of Japan.ExposureThe two sessions of standardized multimodal communication training program which contains lecture and workshop were provided twice, 1 month apart. The training consists three parts. 1: Mechanism and clinical manifestations of dementia, 2: Communication skills: face‐to‐face interaction; mutual gaze, geometric characteristics and duration of eye contact, verbal communication with phonetic elements, and touch interactions. 3: Interaction strategies with dementia elderlies in emergency situation. All participants performed the rescue simulation training before the training and 1 month after the completion of the training, which were video‐recorded and analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI). The video was taken by wearable camera with eye‐trackers (1st person camera) and fixed camera (3rd person camera). The satisfaction survey of effectiveness on their work and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy for healthcare professionals were also taken.Main OutcomesThe primary outcome is the change of communication skills in physical position, distance, eye contact with patients, phonetic elements and touch. The system to analyze face‐to‐face communication; mutual gaze, geometric characteristics and duration of eye contact by AI was developed by our team. Other elements of communications were evaluated manually. Secondary outcome were satisfaction and the empathy to patients.Result31 paramedics enrolled the study. Prior to the training, 88% had experienced any difficult condition taking care of dementia patients. The video analysis showed significant change of the interactive communication in the direction of approach, eye contacts and duration of mutual gaze. 96.7% considered the training was effective for their daily work and 97.5% of participants recommended this training to a colleague. The score of empathy scale showed no significant change.ConclusionThe educational system for paramedics specializing to dementia with the use of artificial intelligence is effective for their work.