Using Multimedia in Life Sciences to Educate Global Audiences
From e-learning modules and patient education videos to clinical trial simulations and marketing materials, life sciences organizations use multimedia content to inform and engage patients, healthcare professionals, and other stakeholders.
However, creating high-quality multilingual multimedia content can be a complex process—from translating content in various formats, such as text, video, and images—to ensuring they are accurate and culturally appropriate in different target languages.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) have transformed how organizations across industries create and translate content. Life sciences organizations can use GenAI, specifically large language models (LLMs), to generate multilingual multimedia content at scale.
Multimedia in Life Sciences
Because of its complexity, medical terminology can sometimes be illustrated and explained more easily using multimedia. This is why multimedia is a crucial tool in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and clinical trials.
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical companies use multimedia to educate patients about their medications and treatment options, to promote new products, and to train healthcare professionals on the latest treatments. Some examples include:
- Interactive videos that explain the risks and benefits of different medications
- Animations that illustrate how drugs work in the body
- Mobile and web apps to help patients manage their symptoms
- Animated videos to explain complex medical procedures
- E-learning modules to train sales representatives on new drug launches
- Interactive training programs that simulate real-world scenarios, allowing healthcare professionals to practice their skills in a safe environment
Biotechnology
Biotechnology companies use multimedia to illustrate complex biological processes and communicate the value of their products and services to investors, partners, and the public. For example:
- Explainer videos that describe their innovative technologies and product pipelines
- Multimedia content to document the progress of clinical trials and share research findings
Medical Devices
Medical device manufacturers use multimedia to train healthcare professionals to use their products safely and effectively. They also use it to market their products to patients and healthcare providers. Some real-world examples include:
- Surgical videos that demonstrate the use of their products in real-world settings
- Patient education videos that explain how to use medical devices at home
- Multimedia training for healthcare professionals on device usage and maintenance
Clinical Trials
Multimedia is used in clinical trials to recruit participants, educate participants about the trial process, and collect participant data. It is also used to train trial personnel. For example:
- Videos that explain study objectives and risks and benefits of participation
- Interactive surveys to collect feedback from participants
However, creating multilingual multimedia content for a global audience can be challenging.
AI Revolutionizing Multilingual Multimedia, Benefiting Patients and Clients
AI and GenAI technologies, particularly LLMs, natural language processing (NLP), and machine translation (MT), can help life sciences organizations overcome the challenges of creating multilingual multimedia content.
- LLMs: LLMs can generate multilingual multimedia content, such as educational videos, marketing materials, and clinical trial simulations. They can automatically generate human-like text, such as scripts for multimedia content. GenAI allows organizations to create high-quality images and videos, including AI avatars that mimic humans. And it can translate languages simultaneously at the point of creating content.
- NLP: NLP algorithms enhance the contextual understanding of medical terminology, ensuring accurate and contextually relevant translations. Life science organizations can use NLP to analyze multimedia content and extract critical information, such as the topic, sentiment, and entities. NLP can also analyze text and speech data, allowing organizations to identify patterns and trends in patient feedback.
- MT: Life science organizations can benefit from MT by translating content into multiple languages quickly and efficiently and augmenting the output with human post-editing. MT can streamline the process, providing real-time translations with minimal human intervention.
Case Studies of AI Use and Success Stories
Several life sciences organizations have successfully implemented AI in their communications. For example:
- Pfizer: Pfizer used AI to create chatbots that can answer questions about its products in multiple languages. The chatbot uses NLP to understand the user’s question and provide an accurate response.
- Johnson & Johnson: Johnson & Johnson uses AI to create personalized patient education videos. It also uses AI algorithms to edit and show surgical videos in the operating room.
- Novartis: Novartis uses AI to scan billions of records and documents to find and recruit trial patients.
Future Trends and Possibilities
Emerging trends in AI and multimedia technologies offer new possibilities for life sciences organizations. These include virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and personalization technology.
VR and AR
VR and AR can be used to create immersive training programs that simulate real-world scenarios, allowing healthcare professionals to practice their skills in a safe environment. For example, VR simulations could enable healthcare professionals to use new medical devices and treatments safely and effectively and practice performing complex procedures in a virtual environment.
Another use case is immersive patient education experiences using VR simulations that can provide an immersive experience, which allows patients to visualize medical procedures or understand the impact of certain conditions on the body. VR and AR offer greater realism in clinical trial simulations, improving the training of trial personnel.
Personalization
The future of multimedia in the life sciences industry may see an increased focus on personalized content. AI algorithms can analyze individual preferences, language proficiency, and learning styles to tailor multimedia materials for healthcare professionals, patients, and other stakeholders.
AI can also be used to personalize multimedia content for individual patients. For example, AI-powered algorithms can recommend educational videos to patients based on their needs and preferences. AI-powered virtual assistants can answer patient questions and provide real-time feedback on their understanding of the material.
Use GenAI for Multilingual Multimedia Applications
AI and GenAI have the potential to revolutionize the life sciences industry by improving patient engagement, enhancing training programs, and streamlining global communication. By automating the content creation and translation process, AI can help life sciences organizations reach international audiences with high-quality multimedia content at scale.
To help you do this, work with a partner with a track record in the life sciences industry and AI. Welocalize Life Sciences delivers language solutions from clinical trial documentation and patient information brochures to lay language documents and laboratory technical manuals. We have teams across North America, Europe, and Asia supported by a network of over 250,000 linguists. And we are at the forefront of using AI, including GenAI, for multilingual content and communications.
Contact us to learn how we can help you use AI for multilingual multimedia.