Grant: Op. Grant: ECRs in Human Dev., Child and Youth Health - Equity-Deserving Groups

The medical need: Two million children and youth visit Canadian Emergency Departments (EDs) every year. Infectious symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, vomiting, or diarrhea) are a leading cause of preventable ED visits in this population. Families struggle to quickly reach health professionals or find trustworthy online advice that is relevant to their situation. Our proposed solution: The CHatbot to Assist the Management of Pediatric patients (CHAMP) project aims to support self-management from home through an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled health chatbot. To ensure that it is useful and accessible, CHAMP will be co-designed with Canadian families, healthcare providers and community organizations who serve groups at risk of digital exclusion. Significance: CHAMP promotes sustained partnerships with families, healthcare providers, and community organizations to co-design an accessible chatbot with modern AI technologies. At scale, CHAMP could prevent thousands of ED visits among children with common infections. Our participatory research methods can also foster public trust and include families in the development and deployment of these tools.