Clinician Experiences With Ambient Scribe Technology to Assist With Documentation Burden and Efficiency

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Health Services Research
• Clinical Documentation Improvement

Background:

• Clinical documentation presents a significant burden on healthcare providers, impacting efficiency and job satisfaction.
• Ambient scribing technology, utilizing artificial intelligence, aims to alleviate this burden by automating note-taking during patient encounters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of an AI-driven ambient scribing tool on the efficiency, quality, and perceived burden of clinical documentation in an outpatient setting.
• To assess clinician experiences and satisfaction with ambient scribing technology.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, single-group, pre-post quality improvement study involving 46 clinicians (physicians, NPs, PAs) in an academic health system.
• Objective metrics (time in notes, same-day closure, after-hours work) and subjective feedback (surveys, Likert scales, System Usability Scale, Net Promoter Score) were collected.
• A mixed-effects model was employed for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Ambient scribing use was associated with a 20.4% reduction in time spent on notes per appointment (8.2 vs. 10.3 minutes) and a 30.0% decrease in after-hours work time (35.4 vs. 50.6 minutes).
• Same-day appointment closure increased by 9.3% (72.4% vs. 66.2%).
• Clinicians reported more favorable perceptions of patient engagement and documentation burden, with the tool demonstrating ease of use (SUS scores).

Conclusions:

• Ambient scribing technology enhances outpatient clinical documentation efficiency and reduces clinician burden.
• The technology may improve clinician-patient engagement during appointments.
• Further research in diverse settings and patient perspectives is recommended to fully understand its impact on ambulatory care.