Doctors and healthcare providers in the U.S. get more and more messages from patients every week. A study from UC San Diego Health shows that doctors get about 200 patient messages each week. This large number can be hard for providers and cause stress and tiredness. The increase in digital communication partly started because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made the need for fast, clear, and kind digital communication bigger.
Before, providers had to write all replies themselves. That took a lot of time and mental effort. This extra work has put more pressure on clinic staff and managers to keep patients happy while using their time and resources well.
The UC San Diego Health study found that AI can help doctors by writing first drafts of replies to patient messages that are longer, kinder, and thoughtful. This AI uses smart computer models inside the Epic electronic health record system. These models make draft messages that doctors can change and make personal. This way, doctors stay in charge of communication but spend less mental energy writing each message from start to finish.
The study also found that AI did not make response time faster, but it did make writing replies feel easier. Doctors liked that the AI provided a good starting point for writing better and more detailed replies, even when they were tired at the end of a long day.
Dr. Christopher Longhurst, lead author of the study and Executive Director of the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, said that AI works together with doctors, not replaces them. By giving doctors helpful message templates, AI helps stop “writer’s block” and makes patient replies kind and thoughtful.
Trust in healthcare doesn’t only start at doctor visits. Experts like Dr. Thomas Lee say it begins earlier—when patients look for information online and first talk with healthcare staff. Research shows about one in five healthcare users in the U.S. now use AI-powered tools in their healthcare searches.
Patients often form their first opinion from AI-made summaries before going to a clinic or hospital. These digital messages need to show safety, kindness, honesty, and easy access to make patients feel comfortable.
Making appointments is a big problem for many patients. It can frustrate them and hurt their loyalty to providers. AI can help remove these problems by giving clear, coordinated, and kind communication that makes scheduling and patient engagement better.
Reports from healthcare consumers say using AI tools like care dashboards with personalized information can help providers work more smoothly. Smoother workflows can lead to faster decisions by doctors and better results for patients, which helps with patient satisfaction.
One important use of AI in medical offices is to automate front-office work. Companies like Simbo AI focus on using AI to run front-office phone systems and answering services. These jobs are very important for managing patient appointments, questions, and routine messages in doctor’s offices.
By automating these first contacts, healthcare groups can lower patients’ waiting times, make appointment scheduling easier, and improve access to care. This also helps front-office workers by reducing boring and time-heavy tasks.
AI tools can look at lots of patient data to help with decisions based on information. This helps doctors by showing facts that might not be clear in usual work routines. It lets providers spend more time on direct care and less on admin work.
Simbo AI’s phone automation links well with practice management systems. This makes information flow smooth, cuts down errors, and improves follow-up with patients. Good coordination of appointments, reminders, and simple triage questions helps patients get what they need fast and kindly.
Good workflows supported by AI also help doctors’ well-being. By lowering admin work and mental stress, AI helps stop burnout. This is key to keeping a healthy, steady group of workers who can give good care.
Even though AI can make communication faster and simpler, the human part is still very important. Patients want to feel cared for, not just treated. Healthcare workers like Manoj Sampath Mohan say real change happens when digital tools work with human kindness.
AI-made messages that use kind words, show active listening, and notice patient worries help keep trust and good relationships between patients and providers. This matters a lot when most patient chats happen remotely.
Being clear is also key. Patients like knowing when AI wrote a message because this honesty keeps trust. Doctors can then change these messages to make sure the kindness fits each patient’s situation.
Showing kindness in communication not only raises satisfaction but also helps patients follow treatment plans and come to follow-ups. This helps health and lowers wasted resources.
Usually, people judge AI investments in healthcare by money saved or earned. But leaders say we should look at other factors too. Dr. Angel J. Mena and others say healthcare systems should also think about patient satisfaction, doctor well-being, time doctors save, and staff staying in their jobs.
These non-money factors show how good care is and how well healthcare systems can keep going. For managers and IT workers, using these measures can help explain why AI tools are good beyond just money benefits.
Even with benefits, healthcare groups must be careful when adding AI. Privacy, safety, and fair use of AI are still big concerns. Studies like those at UC San Diego Health keep checking how AI can be used safely and well without taking away doctor control or patient trust.
AI must be made to fit the needs and routines of different healthcare providers. One-size-fits-all solutions might not work for unique doctor ways or patient groups.
Training and support for staff using AI tools is important too. This helps adoption go smoothly and stops frustration. Teams of providers, IT people, and managers should communicate clearly about AI goals and focus on improving patient experience as a shared goal.
The study focuses on the use of generative AI to draft compassionate replies to patient messages within Epic Systems electronic health records, aiming to enhance physician-patient communication.
The study found that while AI-generated replies did not reduce physician response time, they did lower the cognitive burden on doctors by providing empathetic drafts that physicians could edit.
The senior author is Christopher Longhurst, MD, who is also the executive director of the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation.
It evaluated the quality of communication and the cognitive load on physicians, suggesting that AI can help mitigate burnout by facilitating more thoughtful responses.
AI is seen as a collaborative tool because it assists physicians by generating drafts that incorporate empathy, allowing doctors to respond more effectively to patient queries.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented rise in digital communications between patients and providers, creating a demand for timely responses which many physicians struggle to meet.
Generative AI helps by drafting longer, empathetic responses to patient messages, which can enhance the quality of communication while reducing the initial writing workload for physicians.
A greater response length typically indicates better quality of communication, as physicians can provide more comprehensive and empathetic replies to patients.
The study suggests a potential paradigm shift in healthcare communication, highlighting the need for further analysis on how AI-generated empathy impacts patient satisfaction.
UC San Diego Health, alongside the Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, is testing generative AI models to explore safe and effective applications in healthcare since May 2023.
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