Almost half of GPs responding to a recent survey said they’d use extra time to spend more time talking to patients.
As AI-driven applications make their way into the consult room, GPs say they’re more likely to use any time saved to either spend more time with patients or on non-work activities than do more appointments.
Earlier this year, rural-focused corporate clinic Ochre surveyed around 50 doctors across three of its locations on how they would use an AI-driven transcription application to assist in writing consult notes.
GPs who participated were given a free copy of transcription software Lyrebird, and 88% of respondents said they thought an AI voice transcription service would save them at least one or two minutes per consult.
When asked how they would spend a theoretical additional few minutes per consult, close to half of the doctors said they would spend more time talking with patients rather than typing notes, one third said they’d try to see the same number of patients in less time and one tenth said they had no idea what they might do.
The remaining 10% said they would try to see more patients each day.
What’s significant about these results is that they very much gel with the findings of a Microsoft white paper, which came out after the survey had already been completed.
The Microsoft paper, which was based on a large survey of patients, found that one of the chief bugbears for patients was feeling that their doctor was not completely focussed on them during a consult.
“For many respondents, the most important factor is feeling like an individual – being treated as a human being by a human being,” the white paper said.
“The solutions we use in healthcare settings should create an environment where clinicians and patients can connect as people without clinicians needing to focus on the screen.”
Just five respondents to the Ochre survey said they felt that AI transcription would not improve their clinical notes (two of the respondents said their notes were already fantastic and therefore couldn’t be improved upon).
Close to 60%, meanwhile, said they were “greatly” or “somewhat” certain that their clinical notes would improve with AI assistance.
A similar number were “greatly” or “somewhat” sure that AI transcription will improve medico-legal protection by making notes more comprehensive and complete.
Again, the number of dissenters was small, at just four (this time, only one person reported that their notes were fantastic).
Ochre and Lyrebird are currently planning a follow up survey for the same cohort.