Objective:

To describe early clinical use of a conversational AI medical translation system during outpatient neurology visits and assess its impacts on communication quality, patient experience, and clinical workflow.

Background:

Language barriers in neurology remain a major challenge,and may lead to miscommunication, extended visits, and patient frustration. While professional interpreters are essential, they may interrupt conversation flow, lack subspecialty language precision, and contribute to scheduling or financial constraints for practices. Recent advances in conversational AI allow real-time, context-aware translation, improve patient–clinician interaction, visit efficiency, and accessibility for diverse patient population

Design/Methods:

Four bilingual outpatient neurology encounters (English–Spanish and English–Mandarin) incorporated a conversational AI translation tool within a privacy-compliant framework. Each visit began with a standard video interpretation for initial history and examination, followed by AI-assisted translation for clarification, extended discussion, patient education and counseling. At visit completion, patients were given the option to return to the interpreter service; all preferred remaining with AI translation. Qualitative feedback was obtained from patients and the physician.

Results:

Conclusions:

Conversational AI translation appears to support improved communication, patient engagement, and workflow efficiency in outpatient neurology, providing a practical alternative to traditional interpreter services. It is low cost and suggests a promise for broader implementation to advance equity in access to neurologic care. Broader evaluation with quantitative efficiency and satisfaction metrics is underway.