O3195: Innovative Time Management: An Ambient Artificial Intelligence Solution in Pediatric Care Settings

Background: The rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to innovative technology platforms tackling critical healthcare challenges, including clinician burnout, and increasing administrative tasks. At our organization, a leading academic medical center and children's hospital, addressing clinician burnout is a key priority, prompting the adoption of a specialized enterprise-grade AI solution for ambient audio recording of the patient encounter and automated note creation. While ambient AI has proven effective in adult ambulatory settings, pediatric care poses distinct challenges, such as managing communications involving multiple speakers, languages, and distractions. Assessing this technology's efficacy in pediatric settings is essential to gauge its potential impact on the care of children.

Methods: Figure 1 illustrates the technology behind the ambient recording solution. The conversation (clinical encounter) between the pediatrician and the parent/caregiver is recorded using a secure application on the smartphone. Less than a minute later, the recording is converted into a usable version of the clinician's note, categorized into distinct sections- Chief Complaint, History of Present Illness, Review of Systems, Physical Exam, and Medical Decision Making, etc. Any 'icebreaker' conversation is excluded in the creation of the note. This process was piloted in our hospital in November 2023.

Results: Initial results from the pilot have been promising. Within just four months, prior to full-scale deployment, over 70 pediatric medical and surgical specialists across 15 specialties have integrated this tool into their workflow. Notably, 30 of these clinicians have utilized the tool over 10 times, with two individuals exceeding 100 uses. These 70 clinicians rated their experience on average at 4 out of 5, with many reporting a time saving of over 50% in note creation compared to traditional methods such as typing and voice recognition. The actual time saved varied by pediatric subspecialty, reflecting differences in patient complexity and encounter length.

Table 2 illustrates some of the comments from a few end-users. It was noted that the software (a) generated a near complete note within minutes; (b) saved time, by not having to jot down notes while talking to/examining the patient; and (c) provided a complete audio and text transcript that can be referred back to.

The AI solution excels in diarization—accurately partitioning audio into segments and attributing speech to the correct individuals present, effectively synthesizing this information into coherent clinical notes. It also ensures complete auditability, accurately reflecting the conversations between clinicians and patients/caregivers. This enhances the reliability and utility of the documentation process.

Conclusion: The impact of AI on the healthcare industry has gone far beyond the initial hype. It has become real and tangible. Tools such as ambient recording and documentation software are crucial in addressing the significant documentation burden and the resultant cognitive load faced by pediatricians on a daily basis.