Voice assistant offers remedy for physician burnout
Saykara's digital assistant is aimed at freeing doctors from time-consuming EHR data entry and improving their interactions with patients. By Matthew Finnegan in Computerworld
As the likes of Amazon Alexa and Apple’s Siri have gained popularity in our personal lives, the healthcare industry has been at the forefront in adopting voice-driven AI assistants in the workplace. And for good reason: exponents of the technology claim it can boost productivity and help avoid physician burnout.
Speech-to-text applications are not new to medical staff, who have used transcription software to digitize voice notes recorded on a dictaphone for some time now. However, advances in AI have enabled the creation of virtual assistants that can understand context and intent better.
Voice assistants are now available that can input patient notes directly into electronic health record (EHR) systems automatically when dictated by a physician, potentially saving a significant amount of time and effort.
“Physicians spend on average about two hours on screen time for every hour that they are seeing patients,” said Harjinder Sandhu, CEO of Saykara, a Seattle-based startup that aims to free doctors from some of their burdensome data-entry requirements. “They are either doing this while they are seeing patients — typing away at their computer — or else they are spending hours in the evenings trying to document that care.” .... "
An ‘Ambient’ AI assistant
Sandhu claims that, following a recent product update, Kara is the first “ambient” AI assistant, meaning it doesn’t need to be invoked by the physician using a command word. Instead, the AI assistant listens for the physician describing a patient’s symptoms back to them. This makes the technology less intrusive and facilitates more natural conversation with a patient, he said. ... "
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