Emory University is also studying the benefits of the new computerized note-takers. A pilot program led by Tricia Smith, MBBS, MPH, an assistant professor of emergency medicine, looked at feedback from clinicians in five emergency departments.

“The [scribe] tool helps our clinicians feel a reduction in cognitive load, especially when working back-to-back shifts,” said Dr. Smith, who also practices clinically at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, Ga. “Most of our users also feel more productive using it.” 

As for Dr. Smith personally, she’s a fan. “When I use our AI scribe, I can draft a note as close to the encounter time as possible,” she told ACEP Now. “This provides important detail and context for the physician who follows in the emergency department, outpatient clinic, inpatient floor, or intensive care unit. I’m less likely to transfer care without all the relevant information, from multiple sources, in the note.”

Beyond that, she estimated she now spends as much as 15 percent less time working on notes for any given patient. That kind of reduction could give doctors back a lot of time, especially considering the staggering amount of the day that emergency physicians spend on electronic health records. Emergency medicine residents, surveyed for a study published in 2021, spent more than 7.5 months during their three-year residency working on electronic health records.³

Use Caution

They may be popular and helpful, but AI scribes are not infallible.

“While human notes are error-prone, the types of errors made by AI tools may be different,” said Shira Fischer, PhD, senior physician policy researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank RAND. She pointed out that AI scribes should continue to be refined so that physicians are able to revise their notes in a way that doesn’t erase the gains they provide. “Getting a medication dose off by 100-fold because of ‘mishearing’ a decimal point could be dangerous,” she pointed out. “And it wouldn’t likely be a mistake that a human would make.”

In discussing how the scribes are used, Fischer also pointed out that patients must be informed about them—and how any data gathered will be used. 

Even so, by Dr. Walker’s account, the tools are already sophisticated. “I was skeptical at first—especially about accuracy and whether I’d be spending more time editing than it was worth,” he said. “But the tools are really quite good. I tend to also dictate a lot, and these tools do a much better job with hearing the word ‘not’ or the pertinent negatives, like ‘no fever.’” He has a tip for any new users: “The main adjustment is learning to speak intentionally so it captures key elements.”