To evaluate the effect of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based triage system on outpatient service quality in a tertiary hospital.

A total of 600 outpatients who visited Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences from April 2022 to April 2023 were enrolled in this study. The participants were randomly divided into either an observation group (AI-based triage group) or a control group (traditional manual triage group) using the random number table method, with 300 cases in each group. Blinding was not performed due to the inherent characteristics between the two trial interventions. The effect of the AI-based triage system on outpatient service quality was evaluated by comparing registration time, waiting time, triage accuracy, and patient satisfaction between the two groups.

In the AI-based triage group, the median registration time decreased from 15 minutes to 8 minutes, and the median waiting time was shortened from 46 minutes to 25 minutes. Furthermore, triage accuracy increased from 85.00% to 95.33%, and overall patient satisfaction improved significantly.

The AI-based triage system significantly shortens patient registration and waiting times, improves triage accuracy, enhances outpatient satisfaction, and optimizes the overall quality of outpatient services.