An AI bot that reviews a GP’s patient cases, then provides feedback before logging it as CPD hours has won the RACGP’s annual Hackathon.
The event, where teams spend three days working on technological fixes to everyday GP problems, includes a $60,000 cash prize for the winners.
This year, it went to team ‘Debrief’: GPs Dr Melanie Smith, Dr Hamish Graham, Dr Anita Manger and Dr Yasumitsu Takao; software engineer Sajinthan Janahiram; and entrepreneur Dr Silvia Pfeiffer (PhD).
Based on the GP’s consultation notes, their AI ‘supervisor’ would be designed to ask the GP questions about the day’s consultations and generate insights into potential blind spots, areas for improvement and other education the doctor could do.
The aim is to allow GPs, not just GP registrars, to benefit from supervision (see an example of how it would work below).
“Supervision of doctors is a scarce resource, and we only give it to registrars — and even they do not get enough,” Dr Graham, a GP in Newcastle, NSW, told AusDoc.
“And once you become an independent doctor, you do not get any.”
Judges said the team had identified a niche that was both relevant to GPs and commercially viable.
The judging panel included longstanding Health Department senior staffer Penny Shakespeare, RACGP president Dr Michael Wright, college vice-president Dr Ramya Raman and Healthengine founder Dr Marcus Tan.
The team plans to continue development.
Last year’s Hackathon winner — an app for real time tracking of appointment availability to improve communication with patients — has yet to make progress towards commercialisation.
However, Dr Tan stressed the event was “a learning experience rather than about building a unicorn business at the end of it”.
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Article written by Bella Rough, AusDoc Journalist