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Fluential Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop and evaluate the system with Spanish and Cantonese speaking patients. The company will use its S-MINDS technology for the new application, which will be designed to offer nurses interpretation for common medical interactions.

Nurses will be able to activate the system with their voice or via a designated key. They will speak into a headset attached to a PDA or computer on wheels. The software will translate their speech and replay it back on a headset worn by the patient that's also connected to the computer. Patients will respond to the nurse's questions via the headset. The software will translate the responses back to English and replay them on the nurses' headset.

The system also will display the translated answers on the computer screen, and save them so nurses can later access the transcribed conversation. The system will be designed to integrate with various clinical information systems.

The first phase of the project, which is expected to be completed by June, will enable nurses to complete common tasks with Spanish speaking patients, including checking vital signs, assessing pain and conducting a respiratory assessment. The second phase, expected to be complete by the end of 2008, will include a more comprehensive range of nurse-patient interactions in Spanish and Cantonese.

For more information, go to fluentialinc.com.