Revolutionizing Clinicians’ Lives: How Content AI Scribe Technology Simplifies Documentation Tasks

Doctors collaborating with an artificial intelligence tool designed to listen in during patient visits significantly reduced the time healthcare providers spent on interacting with electronic health records (EHRs) instead of directly engaging with patients. The study also noted a substantial decrease in what’s referred to as “pajama time,” which is the period after work when doctors review cases at home or late at night, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in JAMA Network Open.

This preliminary investigation demonstrates promising early results. Given the current challenges of physician burnout and a need for increased primary care providers, these findings offer hope for improvement. Kevin B. Johnson, MD, MS—the David L. Cohen University Professor at Penn Medicine and director of the Artificial Intelligence for Ambulatory Care (AI4AI) Lab—has been leading this initiative.

Penn Medicine is currently in its initial phase of working with a “scribe” tool that employs artificial intelligence to capture conversations between doctors and patients, accurately documenting these interactions in EHRs. The study included 46 clinicians who participated in the early stages of this project. Johnson’s team found a 20 percent reduction in time spent interacting with EHRs during and after visits, along with a 30 percent decrease post-work hours.

In terms of pure time measures, these changes translated to an additional two minutes per visit that could be dedicated to face-to-face conversations with patients. Clinicians also gained approximately 15 minutes of personal time at home each day, previously spent working in EHRs. One doctor mentioned a weekly documentation savings of about two hours.

This time efficiency is beneficial for both clinicians and patients. Follow-up questions or important information from patients often arise after appointments; additional conversation time can be crucial in reassurance or further clarification of patient conditions. A physician surveyed noted, “The AI scribe has dramatically decreased my documentation burden and allowed me to have conversations with patients that don’t require diverting attention from the computer screen.”

Regarding ease-of-use, participants rated the system an average score of 76 on a scale where 100 represents the easiest. About 65 percent expressed willingness to recommend it to others; this includes “promoters” (responding with a 9 or 10) and “passive” recommenders (7 or 8).

C. William Hanson, III, MD, UPHS Chief Medical Information Officer and a professor of Anesthesiology and Clinical Care, pointed out that different types of doctors have distinct documentation needs—such as an ophthalmologist’s notes differing from those of an internist—and these records often require attention from various stakeholders like colleagues, regulators, insurers, and patients. “Virtual scribe technology is getting better every day at meeting these varied requirements,” he stated.

One doctor commented that optimized ambient listening technology could be the biggest advancement in outpatient primary care providers’ practice for decades. Anna Schoenbaum, DNP, MS, RN-BC, FHIMSS, UPHS Vice President of Applications and Digital Health, underscored Penn Medicine’s commitment to using technology to enhance clinician-patient relationships while emphasizing how AI tools like ambient listening improve efficiency, reduce cognitive burdens and restore valuable time for both providers and patients.