A study based at Emory Healthcare and Mass General Brigham in Boston found the use of ambient documentation technology — defined as generative artificial intelligence (AI) for clinical notetaking during patient-clinician interactions — reduced burnout and improved clinician well-being. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, suggest the use of the AI technology enhanced medical documentation, decreased burnout and allowed clinicians to spend more time focused on patient care.

Clinicians also found ambient document technology, in the form of a listening app on a phone or computer, improved the joy in practicing medicine, as they concentrated on conversations with patients instead of typing notes on a computer.

When looking at both well-being and burnout associated with documentation, at Emory Healthcare, the study showed a 30.7% absolute increase in well-being related to documentation at 60 days. At Mass General Brigham, ambient document technology was associated with a 21.2% absolute reduction in burnout prevalence at 84 days.

“Physician burnout remains one of the most pressing challenges in health care, driven in large part by the administrative burden of documentation,” says Reema Dbouk, MD, a primary care physician at Emory Healthcare and second author on the paper. “Ambient documentation technology offers a promising solution by reducing time spent on clerical tasks and allowing clinicians to focus more fully on patient care. Studying its impact on burnout is critical to understanding how this innovation can improve provider well-being, strengthen patient–provider relationships and enhance the overall efficiency of health care delivery.”

The pilot study involved 1,430 clinicians (557 at Emory Healthcare and 873 at Mass General Brigham) who agreed to use the listening technology during patient encounters in 2023 at Emory and in 2024 at Mass General Brigham. They also responded to surveys about their engagement with ambient documentation technology. At Emory, study participants took a pre-survey and then another survey at 60 days, with an 11% response rate. At Mass General Brigham, participants took a pre-survey, then other surveys at 42 and 84 days, with 30.4% and 22% response rates, respectively.

Pilot study participants included attending physicians and advanced practice providers at both health systems, as well as residents and fellows at Emory. Nearly equal proportions of clinicians who participated practiced in primary care at Emory (156 of 557, or 28%) and at Mass General Brigham (192 of873, or 22%).

“Following the success of our ambient documentation pilot, this technology has now been implemented across the institution at Emory,” says Dbouk. “Clinicians representing more than 45 specialties are actively using ambient documentation technology in the outpatient setting. Building on this momentum, implementation has recently expanded to the inpatient setting, where its impact and utility are currently being evaluated.” Dbouk is also an assistant professor in internal medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

Additionally, Dbouk states, “By enhancing both efficiency and human connection, this innovation represents a major step forward in creating a better health care experience for providers and patients alike.”

The authors noted a few limitations with the study including: a noncontrolled study of two academic medical center systems with a limited number of vendors; the voluntary nature of both institutions’ pilots may have influenced who chose to participate; and only respondents with complete pre- and postsurvey results were included. Potentially, clinicians experiencing burnout may have been less likely to respond at all time points, the authors shared.

The study was funded by grants T15LM007092 from the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health and GR0131434 from the Physicians Foundation.

Other Emory coauthors include: Rachel Silverman, Chris Holland, Ivana Salmikova and Bryan Blanchette. Mass General Brigham coauthors include: Jacqueline G. You, Adam Landman, David Y. Ting, Sayon Dutta, Amanda J. Centi, Molly Macfarlane, Eran Bechor, Jonathan Letourneau, Gabrielle Choo-Kang, Esther H. Kim, Cordula Magee, Brian J. Lang, Laura Angelo, Michelle Frits, Christine Iannaccone, Angela Rui and David W. Bates. Additional coauthors: Julie C. Wang (Harvard) and Jackson Olin (Northeastern).