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In a quality improvement study of 263 ambulatory clinicians across 6 U.S. health systems published in JAMA Network Open, researchers found the use of an ambient AI scribe for 30 days significantly reduced professional burnout and administrative burden. The proportion of clinicians reporting burnout dropped from 51.9% to 38.8% (odds ratio 0.26; 95% confidence interval, 0.13–0.54). Significant improvements were observed in note-related cognitive task load (mean difference 2.64 points on a 10-point scale), focused attention on patients (2.05 points), and ability to add urgent patients to the schedule (0.51 points). Time spent catching up on documentation after-hours decreased by 0.90 hours per week, and burnout severity scores fell by 0.47 points. Participants also reported increased confidence that patients could understand their care plans. The authors conclude that ambient AI scribes can reduce cognitive workload, improve clinician well-being, and enhance patient-centered care by freeing clinicians from documentation demands.
How it rolled out: After recording the encounter with AI, documentation was generated in a standard note, in which clinicians could highlight segments to view transcripts or hear the recording. After editing, the note was automatically imported into the record. Among participants, 95.9% generated at least 5 notes using the ambient AI scribe. Before the study, 82.9% of clinicians were capturing clinical documentation using manual typing; 85.2% used templates or dot phrases; 46.8% used dictation; and 16.3% used human scribes.