Clinical Supporter Chatbot in Kazakhstan
An AI assistant to provide advice with knowledge of relevant national guidelines and previous case reports in Kazakhstan, and guidelines from around the world.
In 2024, KNCV TB Plus, in collaboration with Dimagi, conducted a pilot project to investigate whether AI technology can help us inform the general public about tuberculosis (TB) in a non-stigmatizing, accessible and simple way.
The aim of this pilot project was to explore the use and generate learnings on the use of AI-enabled chatbots to improve knowledge of TB among the general public in the Netherlands, with an emphasis on migrants with different language backgrounds.
We previously communicated about this project on the KNCV website where the evaluation of this pilot project showed that the chatbot can make a positive contribution to informing the general public.
Seeing the potential use of an AI chatbot to inform general public about TB, what would happen if we taught an AI with sufficient evidence-based information to support healthcare workers in decision-making?
By the first semester of 2025 we have identified an opportunity to put our technology to test with this new audience: the Central Doctors Consilium in Kazakhstan.
The Central Doctors Consilium (Kazakhstan)
The Central Doctors Consilium (the Consilium) is formed by doctors treating patients with drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) who hold in-person meetings and online discussions for the management of complicated cases of DR-TB.
A Clinical Supporter Chatbot in Kazakhstan
The project is intended to provide an AI chatbot to support the Consilium with advice for decision-making on management of complicated cases of DR-TB. The AI chatbot is taught with relevant national guidelines and previous case reports in Kazakhstan, in addition to global guideline.
The platform and the knowledge base for the chatbot were developed with Open Chat Studio (OCS) by Dimagi, and based on the GPT4o OpenAI Assistant with Athina.ai monitoring and evaluating the AI responses for harmfulness and faithfulness.
How it works
The chatbot is integrated into WhatsApp and Telegram, messaging platforms widely used in Kazakhstan by TB doctors for the Consilium, not only for discussion but for supervisory advice and other announcements.
At this moment, integrating the chatbot in these existing mobile apps requires less technical support than with a native app.
The AI clinical supporter provides an additional opinion for the Consilium to take into consideration when managing complicated cases of DR-TB. When interacting with the chatbot, doctors from the Consilium determine what information to share, and given that it does not require patient registration, their personal data remains anonymized.
For more information about this project or collaboration inquiries, please contact Job van Rest (Project Lead) at job.vanrest@kncvtbc.org: