Hospital’s Digital Teammate transforms patient education

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) is leading the way in digital patient care with its Digital Teammate, an AI-powered assistant designed to provide patients with 24/7 educational support. This first-of its-kind digital assistant uses generative AI to provide timely and personalized support to patients through human-like conversations.

While the teammate, named Sophie, was initially rolled out as a way of answering questions about the hospital’s new campus development, the hospital will soon be using it to provide patients with information ahead of certain appointments.

This initiative sets a new benchmark for how technology and AI can be thoughtfully integrated into clinical work, the importance of collaboration, and supporting patient education.

Unlike traditional chatbots, Sophie was co-designed with the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team of TOH physicians, nurses, staff, patient partners and clinical teams. This process ensured that patient and staff voices were not only heard but also shaped every phase of the design, directly influencing features such as conversational tone and overall interaction style and ensuring the technology resonated with real patient needs.

“Patients and family advisors were engaged throughout the creation, development and launch of the Digital Teammate,” said Maxime Lê, a patient partner. “Sophie evolved to incorporate our essential perspectives on ease of use, understandability, and accessibility.”

Sophie will soon be deployed in certain care areas to provide 24/7 support to patients. Patients can ask the Teammate to clarify information, help them better understand any educational materials provided, or remind them of necessary actions or items needed for their appointment. This aims to reduce anxiety and help patients feel ready for their visit to TOH.

TOH, with Deloitte Canada, spent two years developing and testing the Digital Teammate. Deloitte provided end-to-end development, from project support to coding and training.

The Digital Teammate underwent an extensive User Acceptance Test (UAT) measuring how effectively it could support patients and clinicians. “Patients asked for clear, kind, and consistent information,” said Dr. Arnaud Mbadjeu Hondjeu, anesthesiologist and study lead. “We’re now running user-acceptance testing with patient partners and clinicians to see what works and fix what doesn’t before clinical rollout. Co-design made the technology more trustworthy.”

This AI-powered approach helps alleviate staff workload by addressing common questions, allowing clinicians and staff to focus more on patient care. The Teammate adapts its responses to the patient’s literacy needs, voice and visual cues to provide patients with compassionate and consistent information.

“The strength of this project is that it connects innovation with empathy. The user testing phase doesn’t just validate the technology, it validates trust in the Teammate,” said Émilie Valiquette, digital experience project manager. “It shows us that when you co-design with end users – like patients – and take the time to test meaningfully, digital transformation becomes something people want to be part of.”

The Digital Teammate is not just a technological innovation; it exemplifies a new standard for patient-centred care, shaped by the realities of clinical practice and patient experience. Its ambient presence and multimodal design promise to empower both patients and healthcare teams, setting a scalable blueprint for ethical AI deployment in clinical settings, like the hospital’s development of its new campus.

“By involving a diverse group of stakeholders early on in the digital design of our new campus, we’re laying the groundwork for a future where human-centered AI can enhance aspects of care delivery and our patient’s digital experience,” said Mathieu LeBreton, digital experience lead.

As TOH continues to advance digital transformation, the Digital Teammate project stands as a model for how ambient AI can be ethically and effectively integrated into healthcare – empowering both patients and staff on their journey to world-class care.

Source: The Ottawa Hospital