Samuel U. Rodger’s Health Center started using a tool with a built-in artificial intelligence (AI) that takes hours off of medical providers' workload. Ambient Assist, by NextGen Healthcare, records the patient and provider’s discussion and compiles the information for the patient’s medical chart.
Brianna Hoisington, a family nurse practitioner at Sam Rodgers, started using the tool when it first came to her health center about six months ago. She works ten-hour shifts, four days a week, allowing her to work full-time while still getting a day off. Like many other medical practitioners, though, she used that day to catch up on paperwork and charting.
With Ambient Assist, she said her charts are almost complete when she finishes the appointment. It saves her hours, she said, and allows her to be present with her pediatric patients during appointments.
“I get to play with the kids while the parents and I have a conversation, and I hardly ever have to look at my computer,” Hoisington said. “I feel like patients feel heard and connected when they leave these appointments now, which is what we've always aimed for.”
Hoisington said the tool is highly accurate and can even work with an interpreter, but sometimes struggles distinguishing multiple patients in one appointment.
Hoisington said most of the medical staff at Sam Rodgers now uses the tool, but some are hesitant to accept the change, wary of anything involving AI.
Even when the tool suggests a diagnosis code, Hoisington said she does not feel like it takes away the critical thinking in her job. A human still must compile the chart and decide next steps. For her, it just helps expedite the administrative tasks.
Hoisington said she did not go into the medical field to do paperwork, but to care for people. Since the tool allows her to refocus on the work she is passionate about, she said she thinks it could become a standard tool that all health care facilities offer.
St Luke’s and Children’s Mercy are not using this tool. The University of Kansas Health System uses a similar AI ambient listening tool called Abridge and generates patient summaries in Epic.
North Kansas City Hospitals, Advent Health and University Health did not respond to inquiries about whether they use similar AI tools.
- Brianna Hoisington, family nurse practitioner at Samuel U. Rodger’s Health Center
