The Health Minister says a doctor using an artificial intelligence scribe tool is able to see, on average, one additional patient per shift.
By Pretoria Gordon of RNZ
Simeon Brown has announced every emergency department in the country now has access to the tool, which records consultations and generates draft clinical notes, referral letters and follow-up summaries.
He claimed 80% of surveyed staff at Auckland's Middlemore Emergency Department said it improved productivity or efficiency.
While 84% said it had a positive impact on their overall experience and wellbeing during a shift.
"This places New Zealand among the fastest health systems in the world to move from pilot to nationwide frontline AI use in emergency departments, helping clinicians spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork," Brown said.
"AI will never replace clinical skill or judgement, but it will play an increasingly important role in supporting frontline healthcare staff and helping patients access care faster and more efficiently, now and into the future.
"We will continue investing in digital technology that puts patients at the centre of the healthcare system, improving access to care, and delivering better health outcomes for New Zealanders."
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) vice-president Dr Sylvia Boys said she was concerned about how secure the artificial intelligence scribe tool was.
Although Brown said the tool met strict privacy standards, and commercial contracts included robust protections to safeguard patient information, Boys said clinicians were wary, especially in the wake of recent health data breaches.
"Doctors are very concerned that we are allocated systems that are sufficiently robust when it comes to patients' privacy," she said.
"We take that very seriously, and we really feel that the ministry and Te Whatu Ora IT systems need to be sufficiently robust to protect our patients' information."
It was becoming a useful tool, but often it could not be used to its full extent because of outdated IT systems, Boys said.
"There are some places where the IT structure is very rudimentary, and so, being able to house the AI scribe, which generally is 'Heidi', and having the facility to import that data into discharge summaries and letters is limited, and that is its use more widespreadly (sic).
"There's not that background foundational IT to actually start to integrate these higher level tools."
It could also misunderstand what was said, Boys added, especially when it came to an examination.
"You have to verbalise what you're finding at the time, and that difference between patient speak with the patient in front of you and the medical diagnosis, AI can sometimes misinterpret what is going on."
It also could not differentiate between patients when a clinician was dealing with multiple, Boys said.
"Within the ED environment, we also have multiple interruptions, and they have to step out of the room, be talked to about other patients, and so separating out what is going on with one patient and what is going on with another - with an IT system that is listening to both - can be troublesome as well."
AI tools also created more pressure for shared computer work stations, limiting their efficiency, she said.
SHARE ME