AI Scribing in Practice: Balancing Patient Considerations and Clinician Wellbeing - Frankly Speaking Ep 477

·14 min·1 clip

A study found AI scribing cut clinician burnout from 52% to 39% in 30 days.

The episode begins with Dr. Frank Domino introducing the topic of AI scribing and its role in balancing patient considerations and clinician wellbeing. He is joined by guest Jillian Joseph, an advanced practitioner and professor. Jillian first outlines the current administrative workload in healthcare, noting that EHRs increase clicks and lower morale, with providers spending more than half their day documenting and only a quarter face-to-face with patients. She links this to burnout and turnover, exacerbated by a predicted shortage of 20,000 to 40,000 physicians by 2036. Jillian then discusses how AI can help, specifically through ambient AI scribing, which she has used for over two years in her clinic. She references a JAMA Network Open study from October 2025 involving 263 physicians and APPs across six healthcare systems. The study found that using AI scribing for 30 days reduced burnout from 52% to 39% and improved secondary outcomes like cognitive task load and after-hours documentation. Jillian highlights the benefit of increased undivided attention to patients. Next, she addresses risks, including AI hallucinations where false diagnoses may appear, emphasizing the need for thorough review. Ethical considerations involve obtaining patient consent, especially for sensitive discussions like drug use or trauma, and explaining data storage and access. Jillian argues that benefits outweigh risks, sharing her personal experience of improved efficiency and real-time note completion. She offers practical tips: reviewing notes with patients to build trust, dictating assessment and plan parts to override AI errors, stating patient gender or pronouns upfront, and dictating physical exam specifics. The episode concludes with a practice pointer summarizing that AI scribing can reduce burnout and save time, followed by a preview of the next episode on hair loss and GLP-1 use.

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