Subjective and objective impacts of ambulatory AI scribes

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Clinical Workflow Optimization
• Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

Background:

• Physician documentation time (DocTime) is a significant burden.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) scribes are emerging tools to alleviate this burden.
• Understanding the real-world impact of AI scribes on physician workflow is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the association between perceived and actual changes in physician documentation time (DocTime) after AI scribe implementation.
• To determine if physicians with higher baseline DocTime benefit more from AI scribe use.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 310 ambulatory physicians using a commercial AI scribe.
• Data collected from user feedback surveys and electronic health record audit logs.
• Statistical models (ordered logit, multivariate regression) used to analyze perceived vs. actual DocTime changes and the impact of baseline DocTime.

Main Results:

• 86.5% of physicians perceived reduced DocTime, but this perception did not correlate with actual time savings.
• Higher AI scribe usage correlated with decreased DocTime (approx. 30 seconds saved per scheduled hour for every 10% increase in AI scribe use).
• Physicians with higher baseline DocTime experienced the most significant actual time savings.

Conclusions:

• While most physicians feel AI scribes reduce documentation time, actual time savings are most pronounced in those with higher initial documentation burdens.
• AI scribe implementation shows potential for workflow efficiency, particularly for less time-efficient physicians.
• Further research may explore factors influencing the discrepancy between perceived and actual time savings.