[Requirements for artificial intelligence scribe systems for medical documentation in ophthalmology]

Clinical documentation accounts for a substantial proportion of ophthalmologists' working time and increasingly consumes scarce resources. Ambient scribe systems, which automatically transcribe clinical consultations and generate structured clinical notes, could reduce the documentation burden. To date, data on the acceptance of such systems in ophthalmology are lacking.

Office-based and employed ophthalmologists from a regional physician network in Germany were anonymously surveyed using an online questionnaire to assess use, acceptance and requirements for ambient scribe systems. In addition, sociodemographic data and the proportion of working time spent on clinical documentation were collected.

Survey data from 34 ophthalmologists were available for analysis (median age 49 years, 47% female). Most respondents reported spending 20-39% of their working time on documentation. Approximately three quarters expressed general interest in using a reliable and secure ambient scribe system. Key perceived benefits included reduced documentation time and increased time for patient care. Major barriers were concerns regarding reliability of artificial intelligence (AI), integration into existing IT systems and data protection, with locally deployed solutions preferred over cloud-based approaches.

Ambient scribe systems are met with high acceptance among German ophthalmologists and are perceived as potentially relevant to future provision of ophthalmic care. Data protection-compliant, locally deployed and seamlessly integrable solutions will be essential for successful implementation and could increase the efficiency of eye care delivery.