To explore clinician and standardized simulated patient perspectives on ambient AI scribes in psychiatric consultations, examining experiences, concerns, and conditions for successful implementation in an exploratory context.
Key Findings:
Reduced documentation barriers perceived to allow more authentic human connection.
Clinicians reported cognitive and emotional relief from documentation burden.
AI scribes were seen as enhancing clinical practice through intelligent translation and prompting.
Initial uncertainty about AI scribes was noted, emphasizing the need for human oversight.
Unique consent and confidentiality considerations for psychiatric populations were highlighted.
Both groups expressed a strong preference for AI-assisted consultations under specific conditions.
Six themes were identified in total.
Interpretation:
AI scribes have potential to support more patient-centered psychiatric consultations by alleviating documentation burdens, but implementation requires careful consideration of ethical and practical factors, and further research is needed.
Limitations:
Study conducted in a controlled simulation environment may not fully represent real-world clinical settings.
Focus group size was limited, potentially affecting the diversity of perspectives and generalizability of findings.
Conclusion:
AI scribes could enhance the quality of psychiatric consultations, but their implementation must be approached cautiously with attention to consent processes, clinician training, oversight, and ethical considerations.
