AI assistant eases surgical anxiety, one question at a time

3 February 2026

Health and medicine, AI, Faculty of Engineering and Design, Science and technology

Should I eat before surgery? How long will my incision be? Can I get my dressing wet? And where do I park at this hospital?

A new AI medical assistant is making its way to the clinical frontline to answer these questions and more.

Developed by Fios Health, the spinout company of Dr Andrew McDaid, tech innovator and associate professor of mechatronics engineering, the chatbot provides round-the-clock medical assistance for patients during surgery.

"It's an AI agent customised to each surgeon's protocols, so it gives patients accurate information before and after their procedure, proactively sending them educational information and answering their questions instantly, 24/7," McDaid explains.

The length of time in a consultation with a surgeon is typically less than five minutes. McDaid says this can leave patients feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information they receive in a short period of time.

"People come to a surgeon's office already feeling anxious about having surgery and then forget what questions to ask, and they forget the instructions they've been told," he says.

A 2003 journal on patients' memory for medical information found that 40 to 80 percent of medical information provided by healthcare practitioners is forgotten immediately, and almost half of the information that is remembered is incorrect.

McDaid says patients feel reassured knowing the AI is trained specifically based on their surgeon's protocols and is available to use 24/7, including weekends and public holidays.

It can answer a range of questions, from clinical concerns like how to prepare for surgery and look after wounds, to practical questions ('when can I drive again?') and administrative questions ('how do I get into the building?')

The chatbot operates via SMS.

"It's accessible for all patients and especially helpful for elderly patients," says McDaid, adding the AI also has a digital twin aspect to it.

"It knows when your surgery was, who the surgeon was that did the surgery, what your pain levels are over time.

"It has memory and builds the picture of someone's health. We are developing it so that over time it will be able to learn and provide optimal recommendations."

But what's to stop someone from simply Googling their questions, or asking ChatGPT?

McDaid says the medical assistant has a leg up on other AI models by being customised to the physician's specific care protocols and personalised to the patient's status, delivering accurate information on procedures such as orthopedic, eye and cardiac surgery.

"We have a lot of safeguards and guardrails, we train it using the surgeon's documents, where they can review the transcripts of the chats and suggest improvements in real time," he says.

The AI answers are also checked against the rules by a supervisory agent, and there are escalations and red flags if people need emergencies, he adds.

In early trials, McDaid found that some patients felt more comfortable asking certain questions to the AI medical assistant than they did their surgeon.

The chatbot is currently being rolled out across a handful of clinics in New Zealand and the US.

McDaid says it's a timely invention with the pressures on clinical staff and labour shortages in healthcare around the world.

"A lot of the common questions patients have always come back to the front desk," he says.

"We're trying to offload some of that from the practice, while delivering better care and better patient satisfaction."

Media contact

Media adviser | Jogai Bhatt
M: 027 285 9464
E: [email protected]