The purpose of this SBIR study is to evaluate the feasibility of using a real-time speech translation device to facilitate MTM of patients with diabetes who primarily speak Spanish. We plan to accomplish this by (1) building a model of pharmacist-patient conversations using actual data and subject matter expertise from UCSF pharmacists, (2) researching ways to improve Fluential's existing speech translation technology to accept longer inputs - 15 word average utterances length for pharmacist-patient conversation compared to the 5 word average utterances for nurse-patient conversation technology that Fluential has previously implemented, and (3) evaluating the technology for patient teach-back, a process whereby the pharmacist ensures that the patient understands the action plan recommended during the pharmacy visit.
The specific aims i n this SBIR research application are to: 1. Build a speech translation system that can accept long (up to 20 words long) utterances without any degradation in accuracy. 2. Determine the level of satisfaction of pharmacists and patients who use the system. Fluential expects an average score of 4 out of 5 on a Likert scale to move forward to Phase II. 3. Compare the accuracy between teach-back using the Fluential system. Fluential expects 90 percent of the phrases to be translated accurately to move forward to Phase II. In order to build the initial system, Fluential intends to collect 25 pharmacist-patient dialogues using the two UCSF pharmacists that currently conduct them. Once the system is built, Fluential will evaluate the system on 12 pharmacist-patient interactions. Due to time constraints, Fluential is limited by the number of interactions that it can collect;and as such Fluential and UCSF are trying to determine whether a speech translation system is an effective tool for pharmacist-patient interaction, especially as it pertains to teach-back.
In this application, Fluential, Inc. and UCSF propose to evaluate the feasibility of using a real-time speech translation device to facilitate Medication Therapy Management (MTM) of Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients with diabetes who primarily speak Spanish.
| Soller, R William; Chan, Philip; Higa, Amy (2012) Performance of a new speech translation device in translating verbal recommendations of medication action plans for patients with diabetes. J Diabetes Sci Technol 6:927-37 |
