Safety, Feasibility, and Acceptability of the MINERVA Voice Conversational Agent for Emergency Department History-Taking

This study evaluates whether an artificial intelligence (AI) conversational agent called MINERVA (Medical Interface for Navigating the Emergency Room with Voice Assistance) can safely and feasibly gather medical histories from emergency department (ED) patients and produce accurate summaries. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can an AI conversational agent gather and summarize patient histories in the emergency department? Are the resulting summaries accurate? Do they capture essential clinical information? Can an AI agent overseeing these conversations independently identify red-flag symptoms that may need time-sensitive clinical interventions? Adult ED patients interact with MINERVA via either voice chat or typing on a keyboard. MINERVA asks them questions about their symptoms and generates a summary which the patients review for accuracy. MINERVA reviews the conversation for clinical red flags that suggest urgent evaluation is required. Participants fill out a survey providing feedback on their experience. The summary is not saved in the medical record and clinical care is not affected. Physician reviewers will evaluate the safety, accuracy, and clinical value of the MINERVA interview transcripts and summaries using standardized rubrics, including whether MINERVA was correct in identifying red-flag symptoms that may need time-sensitive clinical interventions.