Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there; speaking up loudly and demanding to speak to a representative only to be followed with “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Or having to profusely press “0” on the keypad until you’re transferred to the next representative (even more horrific enough, sometimes transferred to another automated system), or the classic Alexa and Siri obediently following a command making life as seamless as possible, only that you didn’t even utter a single word and are now desperately trying to fix a mess that didn’t need to be created by trying to turn the volume down on your sound system late into the evening.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and technology have been made to make the lives of everyone easier and more seamless as it becomes more integrated into our daily routine. AI has also become increasingly popular in the healthcare field as a means to augment the patient experience while also reducing the burden of the provider with a host of tasks. However, technology and automation with AI sometimes slow down our goals and it can be quite frustrating having to pick the pieces back up from something that should have made things easier, not more complicated.
When looking into seamless options for documentation support, roughly two options stand out over the rest: Medical scribe services or utilizing AI tools. When looking deeper into the benefits of utilizing medical scribes over artificial intelligence or automated services we can find the following:
The Human Touch
Medical scribes provide additional human interaction with the patients allowing for a more detailed and compassionate level of care. This measure can also be comforting to patients while also allowing for an added layer of communication between the patient and provider. With a more comforting and humanistic approach, healthcare organizations and providers can expect to see an increase in provider and patient satisfaction levels.
Adaptability
Medical scribes can adapt to a multitude of variances found in the healthcare setting. Medical scribes can quickly pivot from standard documentation services and provide added support from the clerical and operational perspective. These unexpected events would typically provide difficulties even for the most advanced AI systems.
EHR Support and Training
Medical scribes can provide real-time assistance and support with documentation training and EHR navigation, which could be difficult for some providers. AI and technology tend to be limited in the help options that are provided as they are already developed into the system, and cannot answer questions on the fly like a human can.
Outside of these reasons, the public’s perception of AI in healthcare also plays a prominent role in deciding whether to utilize medical scribe services or jump into the constantly changing world of AI. Most Americans are unconvinced that Al will improve health outcomes and decrease the level of work of providers in a significant way, based on a recent survey from the Pew Research Center. In fact, 60% of respondents said they would feel uneasy if their doctor relied on AI to diagnose ailments or recommend treatments, while 57% said they would worry that it would slowly erode the relationship between patients and healthcare providers.
Healthcare privacy is another mark of concern, with nearly 40% of respondents saying they worried more technology would put the security of their health records at risk.
There are numerous reasons to consider integrating documentation services in the healthcare field, but truly one real solution stands out above them all. Medical scribes provide a refreshing humanistic approach to the healthcare field that as of late, seems to be more focused on automated approaches to only further distance the provider from the patient.