WESLEY ONG is a tech-savvy Queensland audiologist who hosted a recent webinar sharing tips about clinical use of AI in audiology including outsourcing paperwork. He says AI medical scribes can dramatically reduce the amount of time spent on paperwork.
Over your career as an audiologist, how many technological breakthroughs have changed the way you perform your day-to-day clinical tasks?
I’ve been a clinician working in rehabilitation since 2010. Over the past 13 to 14 years of my audiological infancy, I’ve lived through:
• Moving from using a pen to typing my clinical case notes.
• Programming hearing aids wirelessly.
• The introduction of telehealth and remote programming – something that was prophesised for years to change the way we deliver service.
Furthermore, many clinicians have been practising longer than I have been alive. They have seen many more changes, advancements and evolution within our industry. I will forever be hearing fables of the “trim pot”.
“It’s amazing to think an AI platform can live in the moment with you and your patient during an appointment so when you ask it to write a report, or outline plans, it can produce that with flawless memory.”
All these advancements have made our lives easier, faster or simpler in one way or another, ultimately impacting the outcomes of our clients. And although one single technology has not made a “quantum leap” in how we practise, each decade of the technology we use is remarkably different from the next.
Yet from what I understand of our audiological heritage, some things remain surprisingly the same. We perform Hughson-Westlake procedure on a machine, program hearing aids, counsel patients and barely have enough time to do our notes.
Artificial intelligence is one of those buzz terms that has also been prophesised to change our lives. We are living in a pivotal moment in our society where this technology is being defined in how we use it now and into the future. And as this becomes reality, it is scary how powerful it really is. If you haven’t mucked around with ChatGPT yet, don’t worry, you will soon. In the not-too-distant past, “Googling” a simple daily life question seemed to be amusing – it is now common practice in our lives, across cultures and generations. You’re either an early adopter using AI now, or you’re going to be adopting it very soon. It will take conscious and deliberate effort to avoid it.
Like many of you, I pour my heart and energy into listening and engaging with my clients. However, while trying to listen and interact, my eyes are darting back and forth between my screen and my client’s eyes whilst my fingers are bashing my keyboard in a lunatic fashion. If I decide to do this at the end of the appointment, or at the end of the day, my memory only maintains so much. I only have enough time and energy to write down key notes and some items simply don’t make it onto the record at all. And what if my time and energy is so low that it doesn’t get done at all? Items forget to be actioned, key goals and important clinical knowledge vanishes and ultimately, the client is the one who suffers due to poor clinical practice. We can all agree that case notes are boring but case notes are everything.
There are various AI powered speech to text or medical scribes for healthcare professionals. Heidi Health is one. It is an Australian-built AI platform built by doctors for doctors and health professionals. I was sceptical about the ability of technology like this to streamline the patient journey.
It was a Friday night as I lay in bed with the platform running on my phone. I convinced my wife to role-play the dialogue of a typical audiology appointment. What unfolded in front of my eyes took my breath away.
Every detail of case history, client goals and assessment presented in a concise, professional format with impeccable accuracy.
I took it to work on Monday and it delivered in the real world as well and saved hours each week on case notes, capturing more detail and accuracy than before. It’s scarily easy to use too by just hitting record.
It’s amazing to think an AI platform can live in the moment with you and your patient during an appointment so when you ask it to write a report, list COSI goals or outline future plans, it can produce that with flawless memory. You can build templates, get templates built for you on documents you’ve created previously while also meeting the Australian Privacy Principles and satisfying Hearing Services Program requirements.
There are only two things in my life that have changed something I do every day in such a profound way. The first is a bidet and the second is using an AI platform that takes clinical notes and arranges them for me.
About the Author: Wesley Ong is a previous executive of Independent Audiologists Australia, previous president of EARS Incorporated and the director/founder of Fidelity Hearing Centre in Redland, Queensland. Ears Incorporated is an Australian, not-for-profit organisation focusing on increasing access to hearing care by training health workers and educators in developing countries.
