2025/10/14 by Rui Manuel Reis, Reis, Rui, Pedro Rangel Henriques +7
Computer Science · #Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Speech and dialogue systems #Topic Modeling
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2510.12490
openalex publication_date 2025/10/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We developed a task-oriented dialogue framework structured as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) of medical questions. The system integrates: (1) a systematic pipeline for transforming medical algorithms and guidelines into a clinical question corpus; (2) a cold-start mechanism based on hierarchical clustering to generate efficient initial questioning without prior patient information; (3) an expand-and-prune mechanism enabling adaptive branching and backtracking based on patient responses; (4) a termination logic to ensure interviews end once sufficient information is gathered; and (5) automated synthesis of doctor-friendly structured reports aligned with clinical workflows. Human-computer interaction principles guided the design of both the patient and physician applications. Preliminary evaluation involved five physicians using standardized instruments: NASA-TLX (cognitive workload), the System Usability Scale (SUS), and the Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS). The patient application achieved low workload scores (NASA-TLX = 15.6), high usability (SUS = 86), and strong satisfaction (QUIS = 8.1/9), with particularly high ratings for ease of learning and interface design. The physician application yielded moderate workload (NASA-TLX = 26) and excellent usability (SUS = 88.5), with satisfaction scores of 8.3/9. Both applications demonstrated effective integration into clinical workflows, reducing cognitive demand and supporting efficient report generation. Limitations included occasional system latency and a small, non-diverse evaluation sample.