Ambient artificial intelligence scribes in urology: a pilot evaluation of user experience and clinical efficiency gains.

PURPOSE: Ambient artificial intelligence (AI) scribes aim to reduce documentation burden, yet evidence in urology is limited. We evaluated the pilot rollout of an AI scribe system in our academic urology department, focusing on user experience and electronic health record-based efficiency metrics.

METHODS

AI scribes were introduced into outpatient urology clinics in June 2024. We developed a user experience questionnaire to assess navigation, functionality, workload reduction, and clinical impact at 1 and 11 months of implementation. Clinical efficiency was evaluated using changes in Epic Signal metrics from pre- to post-rollout. Descriptive statistics were stratified by AI scribe adoption status and documentation method.

RESULTS

Of 41 eligible clinicians, seven initially enrolled in the AI scribe pilot. Two clinicians discontinued use, and three additional clinicians adopted the technology, resulting in eight persistent AI scribe users (19.5%). Median utilization in office visit notes was 90%. User experience improved across all domains, most notably in workload reduction (3.1 to 4.7). Users reported reduced after-hours charting and improved patient interaction; limitations included lack of pre-charting capabilities and insufficient adaptation to urology-specific documentation needs. AI scribe users demonstrated consistent within-clinician reductions in time in notes per day (-28.7%; 14.0 min), time in notes per appointment (-21.9%; 0.9 min), and time outside scheduled hours (-28.6%; 13.4 min). Inconsistent background trends were observed among non-users.

CONCLUSION

AI scribe users reported positive experience with the technology and demonstrated reductions in documentation burden. Findings are exploratory and support larger, controlled evaluations of note quality and workflow impact.