Ambient Artificial Intelligence Scribe Linked to Reduction in Burnout

THURSDAY, Oct. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Use of ambient artificial intelligence (AI) scribes is associated with a reduction in burnout and cognitive task load among clinicians, according to a study published online Oct. 2 in JAMA Network Open.

Kristine D. Olson, M.D., from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues examined whether ambient AI scribes are associated with reducing clinician administrative burden and burnout in a quality improvement study. Preintervention and 30-day postintervention surveys were administered to evaluate the use of the same ambient AI platform for clinical note documentation among ambulatory care physicians and advanced practice practitioners of six health care systems across the United States.

A total of 272 clinicians completed the preintervention and postintervention surveys; the analysis included 263 with direct patient care in ambulatory clinics. The researchers found that the proportion of participants experiencing burnout decreased significantly from 51.9 to 38.8 percent after 30 days with the ambient AI scribe (odds ratio, 0.26). The ambient AI scribe was associated with significant improvement in secondary outcomes of burnout, note-related cognitive task load, ability to provide undivided attention, patient understandability of their care plans from reading the notes, and ability to add patients to the clinic schedule if urgently needed (mean differences, 0.47, 2.64, 2.05, −0.44, and 0.51, respectively, on 10-point scales), as well as improvement in time spent documenting after hours (mean difference, 0.90 hours).

“Artificial intelligence scribes may represent a scalable solution to reduce administrative burdens for clinicians and allow more time for meaningful work and professional well-being,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to Abridge AI; one author disclosed ties to Intrinsic Brands.

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