Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this paper is to propose a new and effective method of communication between hospitals and patients for the treatment and rehabilitation process leading to higher patient retention and lowered lapse of treatment. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The method used for this communication is a culmination of Cloud Telephony and Web technologies. Interactive Voice Response System, SMS and mailing services are the main components involved in sending and receiving information between the hospital and patients. The method used to get information from the patients is through Dual Tone Multiple Frequencies (DTMF) tones, which get generated every time a user presses a button on his (or) her phone. Findings: It has been found that IVR communication is more effective and consumes lesser human labor than all other reminder techniques in the current times. IVR has proved effective mainly because the hospital communications are generally one sided. When using automated systems like cloud telephony it has been found that the system will fail to be without proper pattern recognition algorithms and solutions built to work in a variety of conditions. The proposed system has the potential to influence and enhance the patient-hospital communication because it has a database of information about the patient and a way of communication that is easily relatable to human beings coupled with algorithms which take into account the various possible scenarios that could happen at the user end. Calls made by the system are customized based on patient details: to communicate with illiterate patients the IVR call can be made in their own native language. The novelty of the system is that it not only helps hospitals with screening, surveying and providing preventive solutions but also helps in the treatment process. Application/Improvements: The applications of the system are as vast as the types of communications that hospitals and patients have. The system can be modified to fit all hospital-patient communication requirements. The system can be improved by adding more communication channels like mobile apps and also by improving the call logistics using machine learning concepts. 

Keywords: Cloud Telephony, DTMF, Interactive Voice Response, SMS