Amazon Echo can with Alexa built-in or Google Home smart speakers can not only play your favorite songs at home, but also assist doctors during medical procedures, according to researchers.
Smart speakers can be programmed to assist doctors in hospital operating rooms.
Smart home speakers offer a conversational voice interface that allows interventional radiology (IR) physicians to ask questions and receive the information they need for their patients' treatments.
"When you're in the middle of a medical procedure, you have to stay focused and have sterile hands, so you don't have the ability to use a computer," said Kevin Seals, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
“This smart speaker technology helps us make decisions quickly and intelligently for the patient’s specific needs,” Seals added.
To reach this conclusion, UCSF developed an app for the Google Home smart speaker.
The app processes questions from a human voice and provides recommendations on the exact size of medical devices.
"This technology allows doctors to focus on caring for their patients, devoting less time and mental energy to the technical specifications of the device," Seals noted.
"Further research will consider providing information from electronic medical records and patient clinical data, such as allergies or previous surgeries," the researchers said.
