How keyword-based search is killing your AI search results (and what to do instead)
In 2024, The Confident Clinician was the first-to-market with an AI solution for a problem that has plagued Naturopathic Medicine continuing education since its inception. Doctors who take professional development or continuing education have no easy way to access past courses or knowledge once the course is over. Lectures never built on previous teachings, and slide decks grew “dusty,” saved in drives and on desktops across North America.
Our solution of an integrated and dynamic knowledge base gives clinicians the tools and knowledge they need to practice high-level care at their fingertips. Our system listens to thousands of hours of lectures, sifts through thousands of PDFs and resources and gives patient protocols, letters, answers and support in less than 6 seconds. The knowledge base is added to monthly, with curated and current content to support practitioners in their day-to-day decision making. It’s prevented clinicians from only learning once or twice a year, and has eliminated the burden of remembering everything doctors learn in the past to be put towards future patient care.
The transition to AI-based search doesn’t only require a tech upgrade, it requires a “people upgrade” to train users how to get the most out of their dialogue with our knowledge. Our first round of clinicians who accessed this new feature asked questions with one word (“acne”) or asked questions that were too vague (“what do I do for acne”). It’s taken time and community training to help our members get the most out of their searches. Here are questions and prompts guaranteed to increase the output of your AI-based search, whether you’re using a less-discerning open-sourced AI such as ChatGPT or a curated knowledge base such as The Confident Clinician.
What might I not be considering with [condition]
One of the challenges with keyword-based search is that it’s impossible to search for a word you don’t know to search for. Keyword-based search assumes you know what to look for, and gives you back the words you asked to know more about. This unintentionally biases the outputs and can leave out important information that the searcher is unaware of. AI-based search can show you your knowledge blind spots if you’re thoughtful enough to ask about them. Asking what you might be missing, what you should consider or what is commonly forgotten about a particular condition can give you the clinical confidence that you’ve thought of everything before you prescribe.
How can I strategize with my patient with [condition]
AI-based search is capable of providing ideas and strategies that are often overlooked in keyword-based search results. The searching of dynamic data such as through videos, office hours and text-based resources, allows AI to give a structured and evidence-based opinion on how to deliver care, not only what to prescribe. For example, when our educators and experts contribute to our platform, they are typically speaking or answering questions verbally. We capture this nuanced discussion and use it to inform our knowledge base for you. This means if an expert has added a thoughtful comment about patient compliance, supplement taste or notable connections with other conditions, it’s captured and can be offered as additional support for your decisions and delivery of your patient plans.
What are the long-term considerations for my patient with [condition]
In the past, databases focused on keyword-based search were faster than flipping through a textbook index, but continued to have multiple pages and clicks to continue the through-line from condition to condition. If your patient had PCOS and you wondered about the cardiovascular considerations, you’d likely have to surf to pages on cholesterol, hypertension, sleep apnea and diabetes to truly understand the complete picture of long term care.
AI based search synthesizes millions of datapoints in seconds, and reduces the page clicking and internet journey down to a single integrated page. By asking what to consider with PCOS on the Confident Clinician platform, the information needed from multiple areas of medicine can be brought into one complete plan, without leaving the page.
This question, similar to the first, brings to light connections and sequela that a practitioner may be unaware of, improving the long-term patient strategy and supporting treatment planning beyond a few visits.
Integrating AI into The Confident Clinician was an easy but well-thought-out decision that has unlocked the potential of our platform in a way we never envisioned when we opened our doors in 2021. We imagined a platform working towards a standard of care and guideline for Naturopathic Doctors, and have grown to a system of knowledge that requires technology to deliver it in a streamlined and instantaneous way. Most doctors don’t have questions when they aren’t working. Most clinicians aren’t able to stay up to date on every topic that walks through their office doors, nor should they. There should be resources and technology to support the ever-growing research to support integrative care. Our system, and our AI-driven search solution, brings the ultimate clinical capability onto the computer of every Naturopathic Doctor who joins.
To gain access to our system, you can subscribe to a premium membership here.