Clinician Perceptions of Virtual Scribe Use: A Survey Study

Virtual scribes are being explored as documentation support tools to reduce physician burden and enhance physician experience.

To characterize the relationship between virtual scribe use and physician wellbeing and identify physician characteristics associated with benefitting from virtual scribe support.

Cross-sectional mixed-methods survey study.

A total of 113 ambulatory care physicians at a large, academic health system who used a virtual scribe from 2017 to 2023.

A 14-item survey assessed the perceived impact of virtual scribes on clinician satisfaction, wellbeing, and relationships with patients. Chi-square tests and multivariable analyses assessed associations between these outcomes and key predictors (gender, specialty, years in practice, clinic session frequency per week, years of scribe use). Qualitative analyses of free-text survey comments identified key major and minor themes regarding clinician experiences with virtual scribes.

Of 430 eligible participants in the virtual scribe program, 113 physicians responded to the survey (response rate 26%), the majority of whom were female (68%), from primary care specialties (78%), and had used a scribe for at least 2 years (60%). Sixty-six percent reported improved wellbeing and 61% noted enhanced relationships with patients with virtual scribe use. Non-primary care physicians were more likely to report enhanced satisfaction (aOR 10.12 [2.06, 49.62]), wellbeing (aOR 34.60 [5.26, 227.64]), and relationship with patients (aOR 6.34 [1.24, 32.34]). Males also had increased odds of improved satisfaction (aOR 3.62 [1.19, 11.05]) and relationship with patients (aOR 4.71 [1.25, 17.78]). Qualitative themes included scribe service-related issues, documentation concerns, and provider-scribe workflow impacts.

Most clinicians using virtual scribes reported improved wellbeing and perceived relationship with patients. Non-primary care physicians and male physicians specifically had a greater likelihood of endorsing improved overall wellness with virtual scribe use. Future work should explore differential satisfaction with virtual scribe use between primary care and non-primary care specialties.