Key points
- In a study of 142 US family physicians, 5.9 hours of an 11.4-hour workday went on the electronic record, and inbox work alone took 23.7% of it.2
- In an August 2025 survey of 1,003 UK GPs, 80% of the 141 ambient scribe users said documentation time fell.1
- Share templates by role, write every note for the next reader, and keep the closest review for multiparty and complex consultations.1
- The NMC Code asks nurses to complete records at the time or as soon as possible after, with any delay recorded.3
- wai drafts the note and the letter for each clinician to review and sign, with templates shaped to the specialty and refined as the team edits.6
Summary
Run one AI scribe across every role, with shared templates for each kind of appointment, one owner for those templates, and each clinician reviewing and signing their own note. The next person to see the patient reads a record written for them.
Every clinician ends each appointment with the note drafted in the team's own template, and whoever sees the patient next picks up exactly where the last one left off. A nurse's morning review and a doctor's afternoon appointment land in the same record, so the scribe is set up for the whole team from day one.
See it in your clinicThirty minutes on your own patients and doctors.
Request a demoSee a nurse-led review and a doctor's appointment drafted on the same patient record, each in its own template, in fifteen minutes with a clinician who uses wai daily.
| Role | Appointment | Note structure | What is drafted for sign-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor | Same-day problem | History, examination, assessment, plan, safety-netting advice | Note, referral letter if needed, suggested codes |
| Practice nurse | Chronic disease review | Since last review, measurements, checks, agreed plan, items for the doctor | Note, patient summary, task to the doctor |
| Nurse practitioner | Minor illness | Presenting problem, focused examination, assessment, treatment, return advice | Note, prescription for review, patient explanation |
| Doctor or pharmacist | Medication review | Current list, changes agreed, monitoring due, reasons | Note, updated plan, patient letter |
| Any clinician | Telephone follow-up | Reason for call, update, decision, open items and owners | Short note, tasks for the covering clinician |
The record belongs to the team
In a study of 142 family physicians in Wisconsin, validated against direct observation, clinicians spent 355 minutes of an 11.4-hour workday in the electronic record. Documentation, orders, billing and other clerical tasks took 44.2% of that time and inbox management another 23.7%.2 Nurses and practitioners add their own reviews and results to the same chart.
The NMC Code asks nurses to complete records at the time or as soon as possible after an event, to record when notes are written later, and to identify risks and the steps taken so colleagues have the information they need.3 Set the scribe up at practice level, and a nurse's review is drafted to that standard while the patient is still in the room.
Shared templates, one owner
Agree a short set of templates by appointment type. A same-day doctor's appointment, a nurse-led chronic disease review, a medication review, a practitioner's minor illness appointment and a telephone follow-up each take a different shape, and five to eight templates cover most of a primary care day.
Each template has one named owner, usually a clinical lead, who approves changes and keeps a dated version. Clinicians adjust wording while the structure holds, so the plan sits in the same place in every note. wai shapes note and letter templates to the specialty and refines them as the clinician edits, so the drafts start to sound like the team.6 Adapt the table below in the first fortnight.
A chronic disease review, drafted
Take a practice nurse seeing a 61-year-old with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure for an annual review. The conversation covers home glucose readings, a foot check, diet, a pattern of missed statin doses and the patient's wish to cut down on evening snacking.
The draft follows the team's review template. Since last review, occasional missed evening doses. Measurements, blood pressure 138/84, weight down 2 kg, HbA1c 58 mmol/mol from the recent blood test. Foot check, sensation intact, pulses present, no skin breaks. Agreed plan, a reminder routine for the statin, a dietitian referral offered and accepted, repeat bloods in six months. For the doctor, whether the diabetes medication dose should change.
A plain-language summary for the patient covers what was checked, what was agreed and the date of the next review. The nurse checks every figure against the results, edits the plan into the patient's words and signs, and the question goes to the doctor as a task on the same record.
Handovers the next clinician can trust
In a study of 56 primary care physicians in one US health system, the median clinician spent 16.1 minutes a day in the record while on paid leave.5 With clean handovers a colleague picks up the notes and tasks without a phone call.
End every note with open items and who owns each, name results awaited with the expected date, and write anything the covering clinician must act on as a task with an owner. wai prepares a pre-consult briefing with recent results, letters, communications and pending items summarised before the patient sits down.7
Each clinician reviews and signs what they wrote, in cover as on any other day, as set out in who signs an AI clinical note.
Where the team checks hardest
Among UK GP users, 32% reported errors often or always, most of them minor, and 14% reported errors with significant to critical implications. Errors were most frequent in multiparty consultations (38%), complex histories (35%) and consultations not in English (31%).1 Carers in the room and interpreters on the line are everyday in primary care, so those appointments get the closest review.
The same survey found 63% of users routinely sought consent, with 10% or fewer patients declining.1 Agree one consent script for every room, as covered in patient consent for AI scribes. A scoping review of 29 studies across six countries found digital scribes cut documentation time in primary care, with adapting to varied team workflows the main barrier.4 Shared templates with named owners answer it.
Where to start
Pick a doctor, a nurse and a practitioner as the first cohort. Agree the five templates they will use, name an owner for each, and run them for two weeks. Measure time from the end of each appointment to a signed note, and the open items carried into the next day.
In week three, review twenty signed notes together, with extra attention to multiparty and interpreter consultations. Fix the templates, then widen to the whole team. The rollout guide sets out the order.
Bring one of your own review templates and watch it draft across a doctor's and a nurse's appointment on one record.
Frequently asked questions
Should nurses and practitioners use the same AI scribe as the doctors?
Yes. One record written by one system reads consistently, and the NMC Code holds nurses to the same standard of timely, accurate records as any registrant.3 Give each role its own templates within the shared set.
Who signs a note written during a nurse-led review?
The nurse who saw the patient. The draft is reviewed and signed by the clinician responsible for that consultation, and any question for a doctor goes as a task on the record.
How many templates does a primary care team need?
Five to eight cover most days, set by appointment type. Each has one named owner and a dated version.
Where do AI scribes make the most mistakes in primary care?
UK GP users reported errors most often in multiparty consultations, complex histories and consultations not in English.1 Build extra review time into those appointments.
Does the scribe help with handovers and cover?
Yes, when the team writes for the next reader. wai prepares a pre-consult briefing with recent results, letters and pending items, so a covering clinician starts from the same picture.7
Where is the team's data hosted?
wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic.
Sources
- 1BMJ Health and Care Informatics, Blease and colleagues, 2026Ambient AI in primary care, an exploratory mixed methods survey of UK general practitionersRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 2Annals of Family Medicine, Arndt and colleagues, 2017Tethered to the EHR, primary care physician workload assessment using EHR event log data and time-motion observationsRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 3Nursing and Midwifery CouncilThe Code, professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associatesRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 4Journal of Medical Systems, Nair and colleagues, 2026The current state of digital scribes in primary care, a scoping reviewRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 5JAMA Network Open, Obermiller and colleagues, 2025Electronic health record use during paid time off among primary care physiciansRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 6wai, 2026wai for clinicians, templates in your voiceRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 7wai, 2026wai Clinicians, one consultation start to finishRead 14 October 2026Read source
The whole team signs its notes before the next patient sits down.
Fifteen minutes on a doctor's appointment and a nurse-led review with a clinician who uses wai daily, and an answer within one working day of asking.
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