AI Scribes Cut Documentation Time, Helping Doctors Stay Present and Engaged

For Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, the pressure shows up as a tradeoff, especially during a busy shift. “Information could get lost in transit because I can either take copious notes or I can focus fully on the patient and be truly engaged.” His interest in exploring the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) scribe wasn’t driven by curiosity about AI. It came from a familiar problem: even with dictation, he still had to come back after seeing a patient and write the story of the interaction. 

Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy is a staff emergency physician at The Ottawa Hospital and a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He has been using an AI scribe in his work, one of a new class of tools designed to reduce the time clinicians spend turning a visit into a note. The Canadian Medical Association estimates that physicians spend around 10 hours per week on administrative tasks, such as charting after patient appointments. In a pilot at The Ottawa Hospital, 60 out of roughly 100 physicians signed up to use the tool, and it saved about seven minutes of manual documentation time per patient encounter. 

The tool records what is said during an in-person visit, then produces a drafted clinical note. The clinician reviews it, edits it and then finalizes it in the patient’s electronic medical record. Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy was impressed that the AI scribe captured the real interaction, in clear and professional language. He describes it as a strong starting point: instead of facing a blank page, he starts with what he finds is an impressive and solid draft, checks it and completes it. 

In the workflow, the patient’s consent is requested each time before the tool is started. Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy begins with a short introduction that gives basic context and the visit unfolds normally. When the visit involves a physical exam, because a tool can’t see what’s happening, it helps to say out loud what’s being checked as it’s being checked. After the visit, a drafted note appears quickly. He reviews and edits it. Rather than using the AI-generated summary, he chooses to draft his own, as he finds the summary the tool creates doesn’t always effectively capture the key conclusions and decisions from the visit. Once it is finalized and shared, it becomes part of the chart that patients can later access.

In addition to helping him streamline the documentation process, Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy also points to the patient experience. When the clinician isn’t split between the conversation and the documentation, the visit can feel more focused.

None of this works without guardrails. Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy says the basics are non-negotiable. “There are a few fundamental rules that need to be followed,” says Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy. “You need human oversight. You also need to know where the data is going, who is using it and how.”

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has released guidance and a companion checklist on AI scribes to help the health sector as it begins to incorporate this technology into the day-to-day. The guidance focuses on practical safeguards and governance, including clear consent, accountability, vendor assessment, monitoring over time and attention to risks such as inaccuracies and bias. The goal is to support responsible use of this helpful innovation in ways that protect privacy and maintain trust.

Having that framework in place may help some clinicians feel more comfortable integrating AI scribes responsibly into their practice. As medical AI applications continue to expand in health care, scaling tools like AI scribes raises a practical question about wider adoption when individual clinicians bear the cost, something that could deter those who might benefit the most. 

In the end, the promise of AI scribes is not flashy. It’s human. It’s less after-hours charting and a clearer record. It’s fewer details lost “in transit” and a clinician with more attention available for the patient in the room.