Dr. Adam David estimates he saves five hours a week using the tool and he also feels more connected to patients
A local physician says he got his life back ever since he started using an artificial intelligence tool to help with patient consultations.
Heidi AI was launched by the Cambridge North Dumfries Ontario Health Team (CND OHT) earlier this year and now assists in nearly 3,000 patient consultations in the region.
Heidi “securely listens” during patient visits and is able to create medical notes, patient summaries, and templates based on key words.
For the past eight months, Dr. Adam David Wilson says Heidi has significantly reduced the work he has to do outside of office hours.
Heidi has saved over 530 hours per week for clinicians across the region since the tool was implemented at the start of this year, says a press release.
Ninety per cent of healthcare workers using the tool report lower levels of stress and burnout, an average of 11 minutes saved per patient consult, 80 per cent of notes require minimal edits, [and] 70 per cent cite greater accuracy and clarity in clinical records, it says.
Patients have to sign a consent form prior to their consultation using Heidi but it doesn’t store recordings after the session is complete.
“If I said ‘a normal abdominal examination,’ it would document what I would write for a normal abdominal examination, then that patient knows that they have a normal examination.”
Dr. Wilson estimates he saves five hours a week using the tool and he also feels more connected to patients.
“When patients are telling you really important things, the temptation is that you get sucked into your computer, and that takes you away from the human side of medicine,” he said.
He’s also received a lot of positive feedback from patients from using Heidi.
For instance, it has reduced follow-ups for clarification on more complex medical instructions because plans are a lot clearer for patients to follow.
Dr. Wilson says it’s been life changing to work with Heidi, and that it’s made it possible for him and his colleagues to feel excited to work in medicine again.
“Adoption of AI scribe technology is part of CND OHT’s ongoing commitment to innovation to improve provider and patient experience and wellbeing,” the press release said.
“Results demonstrate how seamless integration of ambient AI technology into clinical workflows has measurable and immediate benefits by strengthening overall documentation quality and care continuity, while improving patient and clinician experience.”