AI scribes can turn a consultation into a draft clinical record, giving clinicians more time to spend with patients. But what happens when you roll it out across the health service?
In this episode, we speak to Professor David Lowe, Clinical Director of Innovation at the University of Glasgow and a consultant in emergency medicine, about what it really takes to get AI scribes working in practice.
Here’s what you can learn:
🔹 Treat it as a pathway change. Think about how the technology works within the pathway, and how clinicians’ consultation style has to change.
🔹 Plan for consent from day one. Explain to patients that an AI scribe is in use, make it easy to opt out, and develop the conversation with patients and the public.
🔹 Train people to check what looks plausible. AI scribe errors are idiosyncratic rather than predictable. Automation bias ensures a note may look fine, but not that it is correct.
🔹 Start where the benefit is clearest. Short, high-volume consultations without secretarial support, such as physiotherapy and GP appointments, may gain the most.
🔹 Take staff concerns seriously. Some worry that savings will mean job cuts. Give people the chance to try the technology and give feedback.
🔹 Measure productivity as well as performance. A faster note doesn’t help if waiting times and exit blocks stop more patients being seen.
For civil servants and public sector leaders introducing AI into frontline services, this is a solid guide to rolling it out safely and getting the value from it.
Transform Gov is part of the Ireland eGovernment Awards, in partnership with Accenture.
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