Pickle

🥒 Provider-driven pre- and postoperative care assistant—because surgery shouldn’t leave you in a pickle!

Why “Pickle”?
In hospitals, the “pickle” is slang for the on-call phone—passed between residents, nurses, and staff responsible for urgent care. We’re reclaiming the term with a digital twist: a chatbot that’s always on-call. 📟🥒

💖 Our Inspiration

Pickle was born out of caring for patients recovering from breast reconstruction—brave, resilient individuals sent home with a packet of papers and a long list of worries. Many told us how they struggled with nausea and pain that changed hour by hour, and how they weren’t sure what was normal. They had simple questions that felt too small to call about—or too urgent to wait until office hours. They told us about sitting on hold, waiting to speak to someone. About calling the hospital overnight and being bounced between operators. About how alone recovery can feel.

And on the provider side? We were staring into a black box. Between the moment a patient left the operating room and their first follow-up days or weeks later, we had almost no visibility. How much were their drains putting out? Was their pain actually controlled? Were they following our instructions—or Googling their way through recovery? This “great unknown” made it difficult to intervene early, to educate meaningfully, or to truly support our patients when they needed it most.

We believe no one should feel that way after surgery. Pickle is our answer—a tool that offers guidance when it’s needed most, and opens a direct, compassionate line between patients and their care teams.

🧠 What We Do

Pickle is building an AI-powered medical chatbot to support patients before and after surgery. Our assistant guides patients through both preparation and recovery, simplifies instructions, answers questions in real time, and monitors symptoms to flag complications early—all without missing a beat.

💡 Why It Matters

Pre- and postoperative care are critical but often poorly managed. Patients struggle with confusing instructions, while providers are overwhelmed with follow-up questions. Our solution helps reduce readmissions, prevent emergency visits, and ease the burden on healthcare teams. 🏥✨

🛠️ Key Features

🕒 24/7 physician-bespoke chatbot guidance for patients
📊 Real-time symptom tracking and alerts
🧵 Custom responses tailored to procedure type and physician preference
📞 Escalation workflows with immediate redirection to a healthcare provider as needed
🔌 Integration-ready with EHRs and hospital systems

We make sure no one gets left in a healthcare brine.

🩺 Our Product: Helping Patients and Providers

Pickle isn’t just a chatbot—it’s a companion through the care journey. For patients, it reduces confusion, anxiety, and unnecessary calls or visits. For providers, it means fewer after-hours calls, more consistent follow-up, and insight into patient recovery trends. We believe in closing the communication loop between those who give care and those who need it.

👥 Meet Our Team

We’re a small but mighty team of clinicians, patients, and engineers building Pickle from lived experience. We know what it’s like to be on-call, to get the 3AM “is this normal?” text, and to wish you could clone yourself during discharge. Now we’re building the tool we always wished we had. 🛠️💚

Janina Küper – Surgical Lead
Janina is a medical doctor and researcher who brings clinical depth and empathy to Pickle’s design. She ensures that the chatbot aligns with the complex needs of surgical recovery and patient experience.

Daniel Zautner – Technical Lead
Daniel leads product development at Pickle. With a background in machine learning and infrastructure, he’s passionate about turning ideas into scalable, safe tools that support real human needs.

📬 Contact Us

Interested in partnering or piloting Pickle?
Drop us a line (or a spear 🥒): info@onpickle.ai