Computer Mediated Multilingual Medical Communication Support System
The Computer-Mediated Multilingual Medical Communication Support System, known as Ｍ3, is a support system that facilitates communications between foreign outpatients and hospital staffs.
At hospitals equipped with Ｍ3, foreign outpatients can receive services such as reception procedures and hospital navigation in their native languages.
In Ｍ3, foreign outpatients can use the following languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, Portuguese, and Korean.
Ｍ3 has the following five functions.
When an outpatient touches a button (<1>, <2>, <3>, and <4>) on the screen, he/she can avail of the corresponding service. Button <5> is for direct communications with the hospital staff.
The “Assistance with reception procedures” function provides the hospital's reception procedures. Once an outpatient answers some questions on the Ｍ3 screen, it displays the appropriate reception procedure.
Assistance with reception procedures function
The “Hospital navigation” function provides a map of most sections in the hospital.
When an outpatient touches the screen to indicate the section that he/she needs to go to, Ｍ3 displays and prints the route to that section.
Hospital navigation function
The “Assistance of finding an appropriate department” function translates your symptoms into Japanese and helps you find an appropriate department. By selecting a part of the anatomy on the screen and then selecting a symptom, an outpatient can provide information about his/her conditions of the illness.
Assistance of finding an appropriate department function
The “FAQs” function presents various FAQs about the hospital. First, an outpatient selects one category, and then selects the appropriate question item to obtain the answer.
Outpatients can also obtain hardcopies of the FAQs.
FAQs function
Ｍ3 has the following functions for hospital staffs.
When a foreign outpatient selects a consultation department, the medical staff member will know which department the outpatient wishes to consult.
Consultation of department function
When a Japanese hospital staff member asks a question using Ｍ3, foreign outpatients can provide the answer in their native language.
Direct communications with the hospital staff function
Hospitals staffs can ask the onset time and so on about the symptom that is selected by a patient in the function “Assistance of finding an appropriate department.”
Confirmation of detailed symptom function
Ｍ3 is currently in use at the following hospital.
Kyoto City Hospital
Kyoto University Hospital
※For inquiries about Ｍ3, please contact the Ｍ3 support desk. We request that the Kyoto City Hospital NOT be contacted.
Ｍ3 was developed by the following associations.
Ｍ3 was supported by the Japan Society and Technology Agency (JST) and the Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Programme (SCOPE) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan.
E-Mail:member at m3support.langrid.org