Glossary, documentation
What is an AI scribe?
An AI scribe is software that listens to a consultation, in the room or on video, and drafts the clinical note from the conversation. The clinician reads, edits and signs the draft, and the signed note becomes the record.
Updated . Defined by the wai team for clinics, groups and health systems.
Also called AI medical scribe or ambient AI scribe.
Why AI scribe matters to a clinic
Clinicians in private practice spend hours a week writing notes and letters after the last patient leaves. In one study, clinicians using an ambient scribe did 30% less work after hours,1 and that time goes back to patients, to growth or to home.
The note is also the clinic's evidence. A regulator, an insurer or a court reads what was written, so a scribe is only as good as the review and signature around it. The question for a clinic is who signs, what the patient was told, and where the recording and the note are kept.
Questions
Is an AI scribe the same as dictation?
No. Dictation turns what the clinician says into text. An AI scribe listens to the whole consultation and drafts a structured note from it, which the clinician then reviews and signs. See medical transcription.
Does the patient need to agree?
The clinic tells the patient and records their consent, at booking or in the room. wai keeps that consent on the patient's record with the date.
Who is responsible for the note?
The clinician who signs it. The scribe drafts, the clinician decides what the record says.
Sources
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