Do you see a role for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in supporting people with brain injury?

[headwayuk]

It seems like everyone's talking about AI at the moment, with seemingly non-stop news of the enormous recent progress and the effect it could have on our society. We'd like to explore the issue in more detail to find out how AI might affect people with brain injury.

Has AI been helpful to you at any stage after brain injury? Have you or your loved one used - or thought about using - AI as a support tool? What benefits and challenges do you think it will bring?

[gr33nmind]

I am a writer. I was before my injury, and after. Sometimes my creativity has trouble though. AI can write some amazingly creative pieces of writing if you give it direction. This isn’t AI, or brain injury, but I just watched a chess game that a paraplegic played completely with his mind. Maybe someday these type of implants can also help us in the brain injury community.

[Stubble]

I've used ChatGPT quite extensively to do comparisons with other conditions that present similar cognitive symptoms as mTBI . From these assessments I've asked it to develop recovery plans with suggestions for timeframes for increasing certain types of rehab.

Given the speed with which AI can respond and allow for a cautious start to rehabilitation activities it can remove the psychological torture of primary care waiting times - obviously there are caveats but a sensible integration of Al suggestions into a treatment plan feels quite empowering when compared with the disinterested attitude of many medical organisations.

There's certainly a place for AI as an adjunct to existing care options but we are still in the early days of these tools so some caution needs to be applied when analysing responses.

I certainly get better quality answers than I've had from some human consultants...

🤓

[Chat2U]

I'm really looking forward to people's responses to this post. I haven't used it yet myself so don't know the range of it's "abilities", but there have to be so many ways it could help!

Could it...

ACCESS "LIVE" DATA

Or data that is a week old, or a month old, rather than 18 months old?

JOIN UP RECOVERY PLANS

"Learn" about all of your individual symptoms, and tailor full recovery plans that span all specialisms in a way our silo"d NHS cannot.

COMPARE THE DIFFERENT RECOMMENDATIONS YOU GET EACH TIME YOU GET A NEW CONSULTANT IN THE SAME MEDICAL DEPARTMENT

Record, compare and contrast the recommendations from each consultant to find consistencies and differences, and recommend

the best way forward when you get conflicting advice.

FIND HOSPITALS WITH BEST OUTCOMES

Could it access all of the hospital results tables across the country, or in a defined area, to give you a recommendation of the one with the best outcomes for your conditions. Or the least worst mortality rates or accidental deaths.

COMPARE SERVICES IN AREAS

For example tell you which NHS areas have oxygen chambers you can access, or have specialists in things like functional MRIs, or have consultants or physios who trained in America and are bringing across new treatments or approaches that we don't have here yet.

COMPARE REPORTED DRUG INFO

Eg for meds that are "exactly the same" ... yet you react differently to them.

SINGLE SOURCE MEDICAL HISTORY

Could it create a single source for your medical history that you could take to your appointments?

So combine the info that each of your hospitals has, with the info your GP has, with the info your physio has, with the info your therapist has, with the info your community teams have, so you have one source for your medical history.

And could it combine that in a way that is searchable and could be downloaded, in full or in part, to provide to your clinician when they ask you the same questions every other clinician has asked for the last decade.

It would make sure you aren't missing anything when you are having a bad memory day, or bad communication day, or can't recall specifics of all your sessions.

It would mean the doctors, consultants etc are making decisions based on full info, and aren't repeating xrays, scans, blood tests etc just because they can't access one of the other systems.

Yes, I know we were promised this 15 years ago on NHS systems, but it didn't work did it. Can AI plug the gap for you as an individual?

IDENTIFY & MANAGE TRIGGERS

Could it be asked to draw info from your online diary, and combine it with info from any of your symptom tracker apps, food diary apps, sleep apps and exercise apps, location apps, to identify common triggers for your pain/fatigue crashes?

Then could it then learn your trends and send you a notification if you're about to repeat patterns or behaviours that are likely to trigger a worsening of your symptoms?

Could it even learn and suggest recovery activities most likely to reduce the duration of your crash? Eg leave location, power nap, fresh air, your (prescribed) meds, meditation, anything really it has monitored and identified for you historically, or found on other systems to recommend.

And of course, could it learn and tailor more, each time you use it, or it finds new relevant information.

IDENTIFY AND RECOMMEND NEW SUITABLE CAREERS, TRAINING, AVAILABLE JOBS

Could it be asked to look at all of your prior education, skills and jobs; look at your medical history, and your symptom tracker, and perhaps your interests from your online diary, then make recommendations for future career options that would work with your new limitations?

And could it continue to learn and adapt it's recommendations if you could feed in what is working or not working for you as you try your new or adapted career path.

EMPLOYER RECOMMENDATIONS

Could it be asked to combine the list of accredited disability friendly employers, with actual reviews from glass door or linked in type apps, so you can see which employers are actually going to welcome and support you versus which have just ticked the right boxes to get their accreditation.

ADAPTATIONS

Could you ask it to combine the info about your conditions and your symptoms, with nationwide info from the adaptation assessment companies that organisations bring in, to see what adaptations you could reasonably expect from your workplace.

This would mean you could be sure that you're getting the full support you can reasonably expect based on recent provision across the country.

But it would also give you the chance to take a look at the support you could reasonably expect, so you can decide if that will actually enable you to do the job once it's in place.

You usually need to be able to perform to standard levels once the reasonable adjustments are in place, and sometimes you will need to accept that some jobs just aren't going to work for you anymore.

SUPPORT AGENCIES

Could you ask it to identify which support agencies are around to provide you with information or help that is suitable for your condition.

And could you ask it to look at employee numbers and waiting lists of these agencies to see which are likely to have the resources to help you when you need it.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Could you ask it to look at all your conditions and symptoms, and combine with info about your house, along with info from OH apps and systems, to provide you with recommendations for adaptations around the home whilst you're on the waiting just list for an occupational health assessment?

So if you've suffered a physical disability along with your TBI then you're probably going to need to wait for the team to help you design whole house changes before you spend thousands, but you could put lots of small things in place yourself if you know about them.

Eg. An extra handrail on the stairs, small handrails around the house and in bathroom etc for the moments your brain goes offline and your balance disappears.

Or moving to an online diary so it's always on your phone when you're having memory blips.

Or putting small blackboards/wipe boards near your bed, or at the front door to note down things you want to do in the next half hour that you may forget if you are distracted by an interruption, or brain fog kicks in just after you've thought about it.

I'm sure there are loads of things it could recommend if it accesses and combines the right info!

[Chat2U]

CONVERSATION MEMORY

Could it be asked to record all of your conversations, then summarise them into notes, then file the notes in an appropriate place for you, and it, to access in future.

Then could it be asked to provide you with the discussion summaries just before you go to see that person again, so your memory issues don't upset your friends, family, colleagues or acquaintances; thus minimising the emotional impact of your condition.

KEY PEOPLE MEMORY

Could it be asked to build a profile of your key people, based on your conversation summaries, your diary activities, and your notes, so you don't forget important things about them.

Could it even be asked to input key dates for them in your online diary if you wanted to give it access, so it could automatically put in things like their birthdays, days they are starting a new job, or having a baby, or dates they lost a relative. Then create notifications for these so you can stay fully engaged in their big life events by using these prompts when your memory fails you.

And could it learn the sort of things that you want to remember by the items you accept or reject in your diary from those it proposes.

COOKING MEMORY

Could it be informed about your regular recipes and set automatic notifications for times to check on pans on the hob, or when to take out of the oven, when you tell it you're about to start that recipe.

COOKING SAFETY

Could it be provided with your regular recipes and look online for similar ones using a slow cooker, or microwave, or air fryer. Ie. Cooking appliances with built in timers.

READY MEAL ALTERNATIVES

Could it be provided with your favourite recipes as above, or draw info and learn your favourites from your take away or restaurant apps, then compare with info from local supermarkets, so it can provide you with ready meal alternatives for your brain fog or crash days.

OTHER COOKING ALTERNATIVES

Or as above but find similar suitable healthy pre-prepared meal deliveries such as hello fresh, or just take aways with healthier options.

And with each of these, can it be asked to store the data so you, or it, can retrieve as required, and learn your preferences from suggestions accepted and rejected.

[randomphantoms]

As someone who can just about cope with phone, text, email and WhatsApp AI seems quite alien.

I suppose it's starting point is key to how it learns .

The initial programming must be by a FLAWED HUMAN BEING so A I cannot be the perfect answer to every question.

My mind goes to the hitchhiker's guide to the universe and the ultimate answer to the ultimate question.

I see some fantastic applications already existing but also the potential for lots of misuse.