Development of Warfarin Talk: A Messenger Chatbot for Patients Taking Warfarin
10.24304/kjcp.2020.30.4.243
- Author:
Han Sol LEE
1
;
Yu Ri KIM
;
Eun Jeong SHIN
;
Hong Won JANG
;
Yun Hee JO
;
Yoon Sook CHO
;
Jung Hoon KIM
;
Ju-Yeun LEE
Author Information
1. College of Pharmacy & Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From:Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
2020;30(4):243-249
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background:Despite the increased use of direct-acting oral anticoagulants, warfarin is still recommended as first-line therapy in patients with mechanical valves or moderate to severe mitral stenosis. Anticoagulation management services (AMSs) are warranted for patients receiving warfarin therapy due to the complexity of warfarin dosing and large interpatient variability. To overcome limited health care resources, we developed a messenger app-based chatbot that provides information to patients taking warfarin.
Methods:We developed “WafarinTalk” as an add-on to the open-source messenger app KakaoTalk. We developed the prototype chatbot after building a database containing seven categories: 1) dosage and indications, 2) drug-drug interactions, 3) drug-food interactions, 4) drug-diet supplement interactions, 5) monitoring, 6) adverse events, and 7) precautions. We then surveyed 30 pharmacists and 10 patients on chatbot reliability and on participant satisfaction.
Results:We found that 80% of the pharmacists agreed on the consistency of chatbot responses and 44% agreed on the appropriateness of chatbot. Furthermore, 47% of pharmacists said that they were willing to recommend the chatbot to patients. Of the seven categories, information on drug-food interaction was the most useful; 90% of patients said they were satisfied with the chatbot and 100% of patients said they were willing to use it when they were unable to see a pharmacist. We updated the prototype chatbot with feedback from the survey.
Conclusion:This study showed that warfarin-related information could be provided to patients through a messenger applicationbased chatbot.
