A Protocol-Driven, Digital Conversational Agent at the Hospital Bedside to Support Nurse Teams and to Mitigate Delirium and Falls Risk

Abstract Abouttomillion falls per year occur during hospital stays in the UScosting hospitals $billion to $billion each year to treatThese costs are not reimbursed by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaidresulting in significant financial losses for hospitalsDeliriuma major cause of fallsis highly prevalentamong hospitalized eldersEven without causing a fallthe average case of delirium increases the length of stay bydaysdisrupting throughput and significantly reducing net hospital revenuesIncluding the common sequelae of post discharge functional declinedelirium costs the national healthcare system over $billion per yearDue to the high cost and significant psychosocial needs of certain hospitalized patientsa widely used intervention to mitigate risk is to assign hospital staff andampnurses to serve aspatient sittersat the bedsideat a cost of $million year for a typical hospitalHoweverdespite the workforce burden and expensepatient sitters often do not reliably execute risk mitigating protocolsand the literature does not support their efficacy in preventing adverse eventsIn this SBIR Fast Track proposalwe seek to develop an advancedhuman in the loop artificial intelligenceAIavatar system to enhance the wellbeing of hospitalized patientsavoid adverse events including delirium and fallsand improve workforce efficiency by supporting nursing staff to work at the top of their licensepotentially generating savings of $each year for a typicalbed hospitalThis proposal aligns with NINR s cross cutting focus areas of Promoting Innovation andst Century Nurse Scientistswhile applying the principles of patient self management and wellness to the acute care environmentwhere the outcomes driven by our patient engagement and support platform will have an outsizedimmediate cost benefit to enable rapid scaling and dissemination Narrative Abouttomillion falls per year occur during hospital stays in the UScosting hospitals $billion to $billion each year to treatDeliriuma major cause of fallsis highly prevalentamong hospitalized elderscare coach is developing a care platform that providesxproactive patient support to mitigate falls and delirium in a scalablecost effective manner