ICU AI
Stevie
‘ is here to stay ’
Just because you are in
Pretoria does not mean you cannot access world-class German healthcare . Just talk to Stevie , the mobile artificial intelligence at the University of Pretoria and Steve Biko Academic Hospital .
In July 2021 staff and patients in the hospital ’ s intensive care unit ( ICU ) welcomed a new addition to the team : Stevie . Part mobile diagnostic machine and part communication conduit , this artificial intelligence ( AI ) enables instantaneous live discussions between patients and ICU teams in South Africa with the hospital ’ s global tele-medical collaborators in Germany : the Enhanced Recovery after Intensive Care ( ERIC ) -Tele ICU at Charité Medical University in Berlin and Germany ’ s public health institute , the Robert Koch Institute .
Stevie is equipped with a privacy handset to facilitate live and confidential communication during ward rounds , as well as a stethoscope port which enables the machine to remotely relay information while a patient is being examined . High-definition pan-tilt-zoom cameras facilitate close-up diagnosis and patient care oversight .
Pretty much the only thing Stevie does not have is a winning bedside manner ; otherwise the gender-neutral AI is very much a part of the ICU team and a sign of things to come .
Professor Fathima Paruk , Academic and Clinical Head of the Department of Critical Care at Steve Biko Academic Hospital , believes this type of tele-medical AI will increasingly become the norm , having taken off globally since 2020 .
“ Even our regulator , the Health Professions Council of South Africa , has responded by amending the framework for its use ,” she says . “ Having had the privilege to use Stevie and seeing its potential uses and benefits I am convinced
that telemedicine is here to stay and I foresee its uptake increasing or being introduced in many medical disciplines in South Africa , both public and private .”
In the nick of time
Stevie ’ s arrival has come at a time when the fragile state of healthcare in South Africa has been brought into stark relief by the COVID-19 pandemic , particularly the inequalities within the system and the “ disproportionately small percentage of registered medical professionals ” in the country , says Paruk .
She explains that the number of trained ICU specialists in the country is just over 100 , most of whom are concentrated in Gauteng , the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal . There is also a disproportionate allocation of public ICU beds around the
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