Physicians who took part in the pilot evaluation of ambient artificial intelligence (AI) scribe technology reported reduced task loads and burnout, improved efficiency and documentation quality, and ease of use.

In the prospective quality improvement study, Stanford Health Care, in Stanford, California, integrated DAX Copilot ambient AI scribe technology into clinical workflows via the electronic health record (EHR) documentation system. The technology enables clinicians to record conversations from the EHR mobile application into content directed into 4 auto-populated sections: history of present illness, physical exam, results, and assessment and plans. These sections can also be independently embedded into existing EHR note templates, which provides flexibility for use with other note creation tools. Once the new sections are embedded into the EHR note template, AI-generated draft content automatically populates within a few minutes.

The 48 physicians who participated in this quality improvement study were trained for the new AI scribe technology via knowledge base articles, meeting presentations, and training sessions. Individual and group training sessions for onboarding support were also provided, as well as additional ad hoc support offered via weekly support sessions and personal assistance upon request.

Participating physicians, most of whom provide primary care in community practices, filled out a survey before participating in the program and another survey 3 months after it was over. These surveys were designed to evaluate how usable and acceptable physicians found the technology as well as outcomes from its use, such as burden, burnout, and perceived time savings.

Participants indicated that the new tool had more “usability” than their current clinical documentation resources and significantly reduced burden and burnout. The 46 participants who completed the post-survey reported improved usability and utility in many areas, including efficiency with documentation tasks and clinical documentation quality. They also found the tool easy to use.

Thoughts From Dr. Farber

By reducing the time needed for documentation, a clinician's use of an AI scribe results in a shorter workday (which should reduce the risk of burnout), their ability to see more patients, or both. The financial cost should be minimal; if you can see 1 or 2 extra patients per month, the AI scribe should pay for itself.

Reference

Shah SJ, Devon-Sand A, Ma SP, et al. Ambient artificial intelligence scribes: physician burnout and perspectives on usability and documentation burden. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025;32(2):375-380. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocae295