Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
Clinicians at Stanford Healthcare will soon have access to an AI-powered app that can securely listen to patient interactions and automatically generate draft clinical notes. The app, recently tested in a pilot program at Stanford Healthcare, leverages ambient voice recognition technology to create summaries that capture important clinical details.
Physicians and other health care providers often take notes during appointments as a standard practice, summarizing a patient's medical history and recording details of the care plan after the appointment. DAX Copilot, an ambient listening technology developed by Microsoft's Nuance Communications, is expected to help take on much of that workload.
“This can be a meaningful way for clinicians to spend more time with patients and reduce the burden of administrative and non-clinical tasks, which are a major cause of burnout,” said Dr. said Dr. Niraj Sehgal, the director.
Through this new initiative and others such as the RAISE Health initiative, Stanford Medicine is proactively working to effectively and responsibly integrate new AI-driven technologies. In this case, it helps facilitate the connection between healthcare providers and patients. “The idea is to empower clinicians to do more of what they love to do: talk to patients and focus on their engagement and therapeutic relationship,” said Dr. Michael Pfeffer, chief information officer at Stanford Healthcare. ” he said.
listen
To use the app, clinicians first obtain consent from patients to securely record their conversations through a smartphone app before continuing with the consultation. Once recording stops, an algorithm processes the data and generates a draft clinical note within seconds.
The technology can identify friendly chatter from discussions about relevant health information, effectively becoming an invisible assistant that selectively prioritizes relevant parts of a patient's medical history or appointment details. .
Clinicians can then review notes, add to or edit notes, and approve the final version of the patient's electronic medical record. Throughout the process, all conversations and data are secure and HIPAA compliant, said Dr. Patricia Garcia, deputy chief medical information officer. He helped run the pilot program along with clinical informatics researcher Stephen Marr, M.D. Clinicians can add notes to patient charts using voice prompts during appointments. These notes are incorporated into the documentation.
Chief Medical Information Officer Christopher Sharp, M.D., who helped lead and participated in the pilot program, is excited to see how automated and generative AI apps can help strengthen the doctor-patient relationship. . “One of the most surprising things for me is that I can look away from my keyboard and talk to my patients knowing that everything shared in the conversation is documented, without having to expend a lot of mental or physical energy. It was the ability to be present and really listen. Capture the moment.”
stress reduction
Starting in the fall of 2023, 48 physicians from a variety of specialties, including primary care, cardiology, orthopedics, rheumatology, and neurology, tested the technology.
According to preliminary research, approximately 96% of physicians reported that the technology was easy to use, and 78% reported that it speeded up the creation of clinical notes. About two-thirds reported it saved them time.
“This is a win here,” said Gary Fritz, director of applications at Stanford Healthcare. “For example, saving an hour can help a provider who tends to be overloaded rebalance his daily load and cognitive load.”
Stanford Medicine's clinical and technology leaders plan to roll out the app to all healthcare providers at Stanford Health Care, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, residents, and medical students.
Advances in technology are also on the horizon, including the ability to use natural language to customize the style of your notes, suggest orders, and edit drafts.
“This could have a transformative impact on how clinical care is delivered. AI tools will not replace clinicians, but they may replace some parts of the workflow,” Sehgal said. Ta. “As people become accustomed to using AI-powered technology, there will be fertile ground for continuing to adapt other tools to the workplace to support healthcare workers, enabling them to better care for patients. It will be.”
