Healthcare’s new teacher: AI platform transforms how care staff connect with seniors

“Do you have any chronic conditions?” This may sound like a straightforward question during health screenings, but for seniors, answers can range from detailed accounts of blood pressure records to a soft “I'm fine”.

Communicating with the elderly is not always an easy task. Many seniors may be more comfortable speaking in dialects or their mother tongue. This means less experienced care workers or those who speak other languages may find it difficult to tease out detailed health information.

With Singapore’s rapidly ageing population, getting such medical information, along with accurate screening responses, is essential to help care professionals provide the best possible support.

As the organisation that conducts health assessment courses for employees from the Active Ageing Centres (AAC) and nursing homes, Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH) is trialling an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to help care staff practise conversations in a virtual setting, where they meet and talk with different elderly personas. 

These personas are drawn up based on cases that KWSH commonly encounters – from seniors with memory issues to those coping with living alone. These real-life examples have helped KWSH’s tech partner Nudgyt create a diverse range of practice scenarios – through behavioural AI – that mirror actual screening situations. 

KWSH’s partnership with Singapore-based tech start-up Nudgyt came through the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA) Open Innovation Platform (OIP), which helps link companies with business challenges to over 13,000 innovative tech solution providers worldwide. 

The aim of KWSH’s collaboration is to leverage generative AI and behavioural science to create health screening role-play simulations that will help care staff better take care of Singapore's elderly community.

“It's like the real thing. It gives a sense of realness in terms of interviewing seniors,” says Carlo Montano, who is among the 60 care staff trialling the solution in class.

The trainees can also access this platform anytime and anywhere, so they can practise as many times as they want. 

At the same time, the AI system gets smarter with each training session. It collects information about how trainees conduct screenings, remembers which approaches work best and records tips from experienced trainers. 

Nudgyt’s chief executive officer Kathleen Yu explains: “Behavioural AI works by watching and learning from human interactions, similar to how a new care staff member might learn by observing their more experienced colleagues in action.”

KWSH’s assistant director of learning and organisational development William Loh adds: “Test users mentioned that the experience was novel and fun, which kept the learning process engaging. They also appreciated the immediate feedback given by the system for the learners’ areas of improvement.”

The trainers, too, have benefited from the new AI-powered training platform. Instead of one-on-one role-play sessions, trainers now facilitate group sessions where trainees practise conducting health screenings via the platform.

This new approach enriches learning as trainees would share with the rest of the participants their experiences coping with different scenarios.

“We expect a 30 per cent reduction in working hours required to conduct training, and an increase in learning hours and engagement for learners,” says Mr Loh, adding that it would have been difficult to achieve these without the OIP solution.

“The OIP presents a great opportunity for companies looking to enhance their internal capabilities, training and development,” he says. “With its wide reach, it is capable of effectively matching businesses with the right tech partners.”

To better serve the staff as they provide care for seniors, Nudgyt and KWSH plan to continue fine-tuning the system.

“There is a need for KWSH to innovate and enhance our training delivery to care staff, so they can be better equipped to care for the increasingly ageing population,” says Mr Loh. 

“We believe that through this project, KWSH will also cement ourselves as a thought leader in Gen AI adoption within the community care sector,” he adds. 

This approach to training has shown promising results, pointing to how technology can help build a stronger workforce – a goal recently highlighted by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing at the Global Lifelong Learning Summit in October 2024.
 
“(The platform) reduces trainers' time, and also allows staff to do better by getting personalised feedback and practising complex care situations in a controlled environment, enhancing real-life performance,” says Mr Chan.
 
“This is an example of customised training offered to help our learners gain the appropriate knowledge and skill sets, according to their needs. But the role of using AI is not just about doing things better. The real breakthrough in our industry must include doing better things.”