Burnout among clinicians has been a problem for a long time and got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) says that many doctors, nurses, and public health workers are thinking about quitting because of burnout. Burnout happens mainly because of heavy workloads, too much paperwork, strict rules, and work stress.
When clinicians feel burned out, it affects not only them but also the quality and safety of patient care. Burned-out clinicians are more likely to make mistakes, care less, and feel unhappy with their jobs. This leads to staff leaving and fewer workers in healthcare. Medical administrators and IT professionals know that lowering burnout is important to keep healthy workers and good care.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can help reduce clinician burnout by doing boring, repetitive tasks like writing documents, scheduling appointments, and communicating with patients. When AI handles these tasks, clinicians can spend more time caring for patients and making medical decisions.
Michael Schlosser, M.D., from HCA Healthcare, said their AI projects try to cut down the paperwork for clinicians. This gives healthcare workers more time to focus on patient care. They think it is important to use AI carefully so it improves efficiency without making clinical work harder.
One clear example of AI helping healthcare is with clinical notes. At SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, an AI helper called Avo was tested. Avo listens and types patient and provider talks in real time, safely and accurately. The study showed:
An internal medicine doctor said Avo is like a partner in healthcare. It helps by capturing detailed histories and keeping accurate notes, so clinicians have more time to think and interact with patients.
By lowering the time spent on notes, AI helps clinicians feel more involved and happy at work, which reduces burnout.
In October 2022, the National Academy of Medicine released a National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being. This plan calls for actions to lower burnout and improve clinician well-being in the U.S. It highlights cutting down paperwork time and using health IT tools well as main goals.
The plan stresses that health IT systems should help healthcare workers, not make their jobs harder. Technology should support clinical teams to give good care while reducing admin tasks.
The plan also says that worker well-being should be a main value. It points out the need to reduce rules and offer better mental health services for healthcare staff. Technology plays an important role in improving work processes and worker health.
In November 2023, a House committee heard from healthcare leaders about AI in medical devices and hospitals:
Representatives from companies like Transcarent and Siemens Healthineers also talked about how AI tools can keep making hospital work and patient care better.
One key way AI helps healthcare is through workflow automation. Medical practice owners and IT managers need to know how AI can reduce boring tasks and improve how work moves along without hurting care quality.
Companies such as Simbo AI use AI to handle front-office phone calls. Their technology helps medical offices manage patient calls and communication smoothly without staff needing to answer all routine questions or make appointments by hand.
Using AI answering services lets practices:
This automation helps reduce missed appointments and makes patient communication easier. This reduces burnout caused by manual phone work.
Beyond front office tasks, AI tools like voice recognition scribes can work with Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems. This creates smooth documentation during visits, lowers repeated work, and cuts errors, all while making data more accurate.
AI decision support tools also help clinicians by examining patient information and suggesting treatment options. This makes clinical decisions easier and reduces mental strain.
Medical managers and IT teams can use AI to find workflow problems and spots where automation saves time. For example, AI can:
This reduces manual data work, which often causes long hours and stress for healthcare workers.
AI use in healthcare is showing clear benefits. Besides making work more efficient, AI helps prevent burnout and improve patient care quality:
At SUNY Downstate, which serves vulnerable groups, AI is used well and affordably. This shows AI is not just for big hospitals but can help many healthcare places.
Even with clear benefits, healthcare leaders know AI must be used carefully:
Medical practice administrators, owners, and IT managers can see AI not just as a way to fix problems but as a smart investment in worker well-being and patient care quality. When done carefully and fairly, AI can help healthcare organizations in the United States reduce clinician burnout, improve patient health, and create better work processes.
The hearing focused on exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, particularly how medical devices and hospitals are integrating AI and the considerations Congress should make as AI in healthcare evolves.
HCA Healthcare aims to enhance patient care and operational efficiency by integrating AI, focusing on reducing the administrative burden on clinicians and providers to allow them to prioritize patient care and critical decision-making.
Dr. Longhurst highlighted that thoughtful implementation and oversight of AI could be transformative for healthcare delivery, improving quality, patient safety, and reducing administrative burdens.
Dr. Newman-Toker noted that AI could improve health outcomes, increase access to care, enhance the efficiency of care delivery, reduce health disparities, and decrease clinician burnout.
The guiding principle for policy changes should emphasize public health impact, ensuring an equitable distribution of AI’s benefits and risks across the population.
Additional testimony was provided by representatives from Transcarent and Siemens Healthineers, contributing to the discussion on AI’s role in healthcare.
AI is seen as a tool to reduce clinician burnout by alleviating administrative tasks, thereby allowing healthcare providers to focus more on patient care.
AI can improve care delivery efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, streamlining processes, and providing decision support, which facilitates quicker and more accurate healthcare delivery.
A key concern includes ensuring equity and transparency in the implementation of AI technologies to avoid exacerbating existing disparities in healthcare access and outcomes.
Examples include AI screening tools that effectively assess conditions like opioid use disorder and ambient AI technologies aimed at reducing physician burnout, enhancing overall patient care.
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