Operator: What do you See?
Imagine you're on a field trip with two companions in a remote location somewhere in East Africa . Suddenly, you sustain a fracture or experience sharp chest pain. There’s no health facility in sight, and you’re uncertain whether Emergency Medical Services (EMS) can reach you in time. Now, envision having a trusted platform that provides immediate, actionable guidance on what to do while you await EMS or as regular bystanders (laypersons) transport you, preventing your rapid deterioration. This is the innovative solution we are building at SnooCODERED. We’re working to combine cutting-edge technology with expert, context-appropriate medical advice to support you in critical moments, when every second counts.
To align with the latest technological advancements and deliver the best solutions to our clients, we have been testing OpenAI's latest Large Language Model, GPT-4o, for our test cases. GPT-4o is not only faster and more cost-effective than its predecessors but also capable of accepting audio, video, and text inputs. In emergencies, this means users could upload an image or video of a twisted leg or a friend struggling to breathe to our platform and receive reliable, prompt advice.
In our preliminary experiments, we tested ChatGPT-4o’s responses for our test case on 35 various medical scenarios via simple prompt engineering techniques. All these scenarios comprised an image of the emergency and a simple description of the location and surrounding context. Eight of the images were radiological images. The model was instructed to provide first aid instructions to a layperson and to assume that EMS was on the way. ChatGPT-4o performed well across the scenarios. Here is an example input and output:
INPUT:
Face and eyes have been blurred out to preserve privacy
Location: rural area, Bongo, Ghana. There is a chemist 300m away and a district hospital 10 km away. Patient's age is 30 years.
OUTPUT:
Based on the picture provided, the location, context, and the patient's age, here are the top 5 most likely medical diagnoses:
1. Seizure: The patient appears to be lying down in a way consistent with a post-seizure state.
2. Head Injury: The patient may have fallen and injured their head.
3. Unconsciousness: The patient may have fainted or lost consciousness for another reason.
4. Hypoglycemia: Low blood sugar could cause a person to collapse and lose consciousness.
5. Stroke: Though less common in younger people, it is still a possibility.
First Aid Steps
1. Ensure Safety: Make sure the area around the patient is safe. Remove any nearby objects that could cause injury.
2. Check for Responsiveness: Gently tap the patient and ask if they are okay to check for consciousness. If the patient is unresponsive, ensure they are breathing. If not, prepare to perform CPR.
3. Protect the Head: Place something soft (like a jacket or cushion) under the patient's head to protect it.
4. Do Not Restrain: If the patient is having a seizure, do not restrain them. Allow the seizure to run its course.
5. Clear the Area: Move any objects away from the patient that could cause injury during the seizure.
6. Turn the Patient on Their Side: Once the seizure stops, turn the patient on their side in the recovery position to keep their airway clear and prevent choking.
7. Monitor Breathing: Check the patient's breathing. If they are not breathing, begin CPR if you are trained to do so.
8. Provide Reassurance: Stay with the patient and provide reassurance as they regain consciousness. Keep them calm and still.
9. Avoid Giving Food or Drink: Do not give the patient anything to eat or drink until they are fully alert and responsive.
10. Prepare for EMS Arrival: Provide clear directions to EMS if they call for location details.
Have patient’s medical information ready if available, such as allergies, current medications, or existing medical conditions.
Remember to stay calm and follow these steps until professional medical help arrives.
The outputs were sound and helpful across board, though not 100% complete. For example, in this scenario, the instruction to “Protect the head” should include not moving the head, because of the possible diagnosis of head injury (cervical spine immobilisation). Further refining of prompts and leveraging of various techniques would improve the completeness and accuracy of the model’s responses. Its out-of-box capabilities though are impressive!
And thankfully, SnooCODE and SnooCODERED take care of the logistics steps – as instruction #10 goes, “provide clear directions to EMS if they call for location details.” With SnooCODE, you only need to mention the simple 5- to 7-digit code for your location, and the EMS will be able to navigate to the exact point while finding and communicating with the closest health assets (including individual doctors) on SnooCODERED. Life-saving medical decision support from an image-recognition LLM, backed by context-specific data from SnooCODERED!
We continue to explore how to leverage GPT-4o to enhance our system’s emergency response capabilities towards improving the management of medical emergencies and the achievement of better health outcomes.
By Dr. Paulina Mensah
#ArtificialIntelligence #GPT #GPT4o #EmergencyServices #Logistics #Innovation #Sustainability #SnooCODE