The World Today
MADRID, 21 (EUROPA PRESS)
A team of researchers at Mass General Brigham (United States) has revealed that the use of ambient documentation technologies, which are tools powered by generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and that write clinical notes for review during patient visits, have significantly reduced physician burnout.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, showed that the use of these technologies was associated with a 21.2 percent absolute reduction in the prevalence of burnout at 84 days in the Mass General Brigham hospital network.
Meanwhile, the Emory Healthcare network, also in the United States, saw a 30.7 percent absolute increase in documentation-related well-being at 60 days.
“Ambient documentation technology has been truly transformative, freeing physicians from their keyboards for more in-person interaction with their patients,” said Rebecca Mishuris, co-senior author of the study and Chief Medical Information Officer at Brigham Mass General Hospital.
In the study, based on surveys of more than 1,400 physicians and healthcare professionals from both networks, physicians reported having "reclaimed" their evenings and weekends and rediscovered the "joy" of practicing medicine.
"Virtually no other intervention in our field has such a significant impact on burnout," added Dr. Mishuris, who noted that burnout affects more than half of American physicians and is related to the amount of time spent in electronic medical records, especially outside of work hours.
This is one of the problems that hospitals across the country are "looking to address," explained the study's co-lead author, Lisa Rotenstein, who pointed to a greater need for further study of environmental documentation.
"Burnout negatively affects both providers and their patients, who face increased risks to their safety and access to care," added Dr. Rotenstein, also director of the Center for Physician Expertise and Practice Excellence at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The feedback collected is based on the experience of pilot users of these technologies, who highlighted that they facilitate greater contact with patients and their families, improved their satisfaction with medical practice, and recognized their potential to "radically" transform the clinical experience.
Despite these positive comments, other users have felt that it took them more time to write notes or was less useful for certain types of visits or specialties.
This is why the study's authors have justified the need to continue investigating these technologies in a broader group of people, evaluating whether burnout rates improve over time as AI evolves, or whether this burnout stabilizes or reverses.
"Ambient documentation technology represents a breakthrough in healthcare and new tools that could have a positive impact on our clinical teams," said Jacqueline You, the study's lead author and chief digital clinician and primary care physician at Mass General Brigham.
