With greater numbers of new medications and therapies entering the market place, easy access to accurate information on them has become increasingly important. The MedicineLine (Gyógyszervonal) project has provided such a service in the form of an automatic speech-based dialogue system, where package leaflet information on some 5 000 products are now available via telephone, web and WAP (text information).
- 16 December 2009
The MedicineLine has brought major changes to Hungary in terms of communicating package leaflet information to patients and healthcare professionals. The MedicineLine is becoming more recognised among people with visual impairments since its special features allow them to obtain regularly updated information on medicinal products.
The system is designed to be accessible by everyone, in particular those living in disadvantaged areas as well as the blind and visually impaired. This innovative approach opens the door to new horizons in terms of access to regularly updated medical information, with patients now able to find out more direct from their hospital beds.
Connecting people and products
The project was carried out by the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Telecommunications and Mediainformatics (BME TMIT) and the National Institute of Pharmacy (OGYI). With backing from EU funds, their work resulted in an automatic, 24-hour information system, easily accessible via the Internet, mobile phone (WAP and text information) and telephone (equipped with speech synthesis and recognition technology). Hungarian-speaking people therefore have access to the package leaflet information on all medicinal products approved by the OGYI.
New tools of the trade in healthcare
Innovation has been a key feature of the system. The computer employs an automatic speech-based dialogue system to identify the name of the medicine the user is looking for and to provide the information required. People speak to the system (or control it by touch-tone) and the text of the package leaflet is read back by an application-oriented speech synthesizer. Advanced techniques ensure the accuracy of the system, including specialised grapheme to phoneme rules for the generation of automatic pronunciation models.
Relevant information for timely decisions
The MedicineLine service meets the needs of several social groups as mentioned above. According to users, the system is the only one that provides real access to medical information. More important, the system’s automatic updater, a web-based administration tool, refreshes the drug data twice a month. This is a vital component, since there are continual changes to the list of drugs available (new drugs added, others deleted).