Waterloo student's new web platform makes medical information more accessible to patients.
When not busy with her Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) degree, Waterloo Engineering student Seun Adetunji is working on her startup MedInclude which uses AI to demystify medical information.
The MedInclude tool transcribes doctor’s notes in lay terms in real time and makes them available in a patient’s mother-tongue so they can more easily understand and take part in their medical care and decisions.
“In healthcare settings, most patients want to have more agency in their healthcare decisions,” said Adetunji. “But most medical information is shared with a lot of medical jargon and complex words. This leaves a big communications gap that I hope MedInclude will address.”
Research has shown that this is a significant issue with 50 per cent of patients from a recent study indicating that they do not understand their doctor, while another study indicated that up to 80 per cent of medical information is forgotten immediately after a consultation.
“Unfortunately, this communication gap disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Colour and contributes to systemic health inequities,” said Adetunji.
The MedInclude team are launching their first pilot of this new platform in partnership with KidsAbility. The Pilot goes live on May 29, 2023.
Go to Waterloo student demystifies medical information with help from AI for the full story.