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AI-Assisted Clinical Documentation in Routine Danish General Practice: Quantitative Pre-Post Study
Louise Nørgaard Olsen1, Philipp Harbig2,3, Anna Bay Laurberg4
1Department of Internal Medicine, Regional Hospital Viborg, Heibergs Allé 5A, Viborg, 8800, Denmark, 45 60211057.
Background:
Administrative workload in general practice limits time for direct patient care. AI-assisted documentation has been proposed as a way to reduce the documentation burden, but evidence from routine primary care settings remains limited.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate general practitioners' (GPs) acceptance of AI-assisted documentation and its association with documentation time and clinical note quality in routine Danish general practice.
Methods:
We conducted a quantitative pragmatic pre-post quality improvement evaluation in Danish general practice. A total of 20 GPs documented 239 consultations before and 236 consultations after implementation of an AI-assisted documentation system. Documentation quality, structure, clinical clarity, and documentation time categories were self-assessed using standardized audit forms completed immediately after each consultation. Technology acceptance and usability were assessed using the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the System Usability Scale (SUS).
Results:
Self-assessed documentation structure increased from 3.99 to 4.45, while self-reported documentation time categories decreased from 2.85 to 2.29. Technology acceptance and usability were high (TAM domain means 3.76-4.19; SUS mean 77.5). GP-level paired analyses showed moderate improvements in structure and clarity and a reduction in documentation time. Combined blinded external assessments showed higher postimplementation scores for quality, structure, and clinical clarity, although reviewer-specific ratings diverged, and interrater reliability was low. The association between documentation time and perceived quality was negligible. TAM and SUS indicated high clinician acceptance.
Conclusions:
AI-assisted documentation was associated with lower self-reported documentation time categories while maintaining or modestly improving perceived clinical note quality. These findings support the feasibility of AI-assisted documentation in primary care, while highlighting the need for controlled studies with objective time measurement and longer follow-up.
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