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Evaluating the Impact of Ambient AI on Documentation Efficiency and Clinician Burnout in Primary Care Settings

Evaluating the Impact of Ambient AI on Documentation Efficiency and Clinician Burnout in Primary Care Settings

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06605976
Enrollment
45
Registered
2024-09-20
Start date
2024-05-01
Completion date
2024-09-13
Last updated
2024-09-20

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Burnout, Clinical Documentation Efficiency

Keywords

clinical documentation, burnout, scribe, ambient AI, DAX CoPilot, randomized control trial, electronic health record, acceptance and use of technology, patient satisfaction

Brief summary

This clinical trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an ambient listening AI product, DAX CoPilot, in improving clinical documentation efficiency and reducing clinician burnout in primary care settings. Researchers will compare results from a group who was given a license to use DAX CoPilot to a group who was not given a license. Participants in the DAX group will use DAX CoPilot system for EHR documentation and participants in the control group will use use standard EHR documentation methods. Participants will also be asked to complete surveys and assessments related to their views on technology and experiences of burnout.

Detailed description

This pilot study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an ambient listening AI product in improving clinical documentation efficiency and patient satisfaction, reducing clinician burnout in primary care settings, and improving operational implementation strategies by harnessing end-user psychology. Employing a randomized, prospective design, the study involved 25 clinicians who were given an ambient listening AI product (DAX CoPilot) after a 1 month baseline period and asked to use it for clinical documentation with a focus on problem-focused visits over a 3-month period, with a control group of 20 clinicians continuing traditional documentation methods. The primary outcomes include changes in documentation efficiency (measured through metrics such as time spent on documentation per patient) and clinician burnout (assessed using the validated Mini-Z 2.0 burnout inventory). Secondary outcomes involve patient satisfaction with clinicians' use of the AI tool and examining end-user technology acceptance among clinicians using a survey based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). The study aims to provide insights into the potential of AI-assisted documentation tools in enhancing clinical workflow and addressing the growing concern of clinician burnout.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALDAX CoPilot Group

Participants in this group were given a license for DAX CoPilot and asked to use it for clinical documentation.

Sponsors

Samaritan Health Services
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Randomized control trial

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Licensed Clinicians: Independently licensed clinicians (MDs, DOs, NPs, PAs) who have been actively practicing at Samaritan Health Services for at least 6 months. 2. Primary Care Only: Providers must have a listed specialty of family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatrics, and currently practice primarily in a primary or urgent care clinic. 3. Provider has an Apple iPhone and is willing to install Epic Haiku.

Exclusion criteria

1. Inpatient-Only Clinicians: Exclude clinicians who only, or primarily, work in inpatient settings, as documentation needs and challenges may differ significantly from those in outpatient settings. 2. Trainees: Exclude medical students and residents due to their varying levels of experience and dependence on supervisory oversight. 3. Minimum Outpatient Encounters: Exclude clinicians with fewer than 100 outpatient encounters per month to focus on those with a significant workload in outpatient settings. 4. Android Smartphones Users: Clinicians may not use Android, or generally any non-Apple or non-iOS smartphones, given the software limitations of the selected intervention technology. 5. Corrective Action: Exclude clinicians facing dismissal, corrective, or disciplinary action. 6. Scheduled leave longer than 3 weeks during the study period

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Documentation efficiencyFrom baseline to the end of the 3 month experimental periodCompare average documentation, workload, and InBasket metrics (tracked by Epic Signal and through a custom data pull for SHS) before and after the implementation of ambient AI among the intervention and control groups; time in notes per appointment, time in notes per scheduled day, progress note length, note composition, time outside scheduled hours, time outside of 7 AM to 7 PM, pajama time, visits closed same day, time in InBasket per appointment, InBasket message turnaround time

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
BurnoutFrom baseline to the end of the 3 month experimental periodClinician burnout as assessed using the Mini-Z 2.0 burnout inventory

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Patient satisfaction3 months experimental periodPatient satisfaction with the experience of the clinician using DAX CoPilot via a patient survey after a visit in which it was used

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026