Mayo Clinic Minute: Amazon Alexa offers Mayo Clinic First Aid

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Amazon Alexa offers Mayo Clinic First Aid

By
Jeff Olsen

November 17, 2017

Amazon Alexa is giving voice to the first-aid information on mayoclinic.org.

Mayo Clinic has introduced a voice-driven software application – what Amazon calls a skill – for Alexa-enabled devices.

Once enabled by the user, the Mayo Clinic First-Aid skill provides care instructions for dozens of everyday mishaps and other common household issues.
https://youtu.be/CQfezyjzU78
Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (1:00) is in the downloads. Read the script.

Need first-aid advice in your home? Now you can ask Alexa.

"And you could say, 'Alexa, open Mayo Clinic First Aid. I have cut myself,'" says Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, a general internal medicine specialist and associate medical director for Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions.

Once prompted, Alexa delivers self-treatment ideas.

"What are the steps you might need to know about self-treatment and, then, when to seek emergency help," says Dr. Pruthi.

The Mayo First-Aid skill is for everyday issues like treating a cut, a burn, child’s fever and other medical situations that are not life-threatening.

"The opportunity to be able to take this content that we already have on our website and deliver it using the Amazon Alexa was exciting for us," explains Dr. Pruthi.

It's fast, easy access to first aid.

"And it is reliable, trusted Mayo Clinic information," adds Dr. Pruthi.