The Current State of Digital Scribes in Primary Care: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• Primary Care Technology

Background:

• Digital scribe technology is emerging in primary care.
• Artificial intelligence (AI), automatic speech recognition (ASR), and natural language processing (NLP) are key components.
• Understanding their impact on clinical practice is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of digital scribe technology in primary care.
• To explore the role of ASR and NLP in digital scribe effectiveness, integration, and adoption.
• To identify current trends and challenges.

Main Methods:

• Scoping review following Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines.
• Searches across PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and CINAHL.
• Inclusion of 29 studies from 2018-2024 across six countries.

Main Results:

• Digital scribes effectively reduce documentation time, improving workflow efficiency.
• Clinicians can dedicate more time to patient interaction.
• Significant integration challenges and adoption barriers exist, especially concerning diverse healthcare workflows.

Conclusions:

• Digital scribes show promise for enhancing documentation accuracy and reducing clinician burden in primary care.
• Further research is needed on real-world effectiveness in primary care settings.
• ASR and NLP are foundational to the potential of digital scribes.