During each consultation with her patients, Petra launches the web application Autoscriber. The computer records the consultation – with the patient's permission – after which artificial intelligence (AI) summarises everything that has been said, including the discussed treatment options and the informed consent. "I copy those data in Autoscriber and put them in the right place of the patient record. This really reduces the amount of registration work. The only manual job is copying the data to HiX."

"More of a doctor, less of a typist"

This workflow leaves Petra more time to dedicate to her patient. "I don't need to type along throughout the whole consultation and think about the right way to summarise it anymore. This shifts the attention from the computer to my patient during a consultation, allowing me to better interpret nonverbal signals and listen to what is said. It costs me less time and allows me to enjoy my work more, also a valuable aspect. The technology in the consultation room lightens the workload, which allows me to be more relaxed and comfortable in my work as a doctor."

"Faith in technology"

Petra was initially hesitant towards this AI solution. "Can I really let the computer type, while I lean back and talk to the patient? Will the final summary be 'good enough'? What does this mean for my workflow? How does this work in practice? All these questions went through my head." But now, that scepticism of the unknown has transformed into faith and conviction in this way of working. “Through my first experiences, I’ve gained faith in technology as an extension of my human abilities. This is how I envision the consultation of the future: working with speech recognition, being more fulfilled in my job, having less manual registration work, and dedicating more attention to the patient."

Goal: seamless integration

Aran Jellema, R&D team lead, wants to integrate Autoscriber into HiX as soon as possible to remove the copy-paste step of the process and further reduce the number of actions for the care provider. "That means that the web interface will be removed and replaced with an API integration. The physician will click on 'start an Autoscriber consultation' in HiX and record the consultation, after which the API will directly fill the correct fields with the correct data in the clinical note. This will be the next step of development."

Getting the most out of a consultation

"We also want to automate copying vital parameters into HiX", Aran adds. "And if, for example, the physician tells the patient they need a chest x-ray, MRI, or lab test, the AI will retrieve this information from the consultation and prepare the appropriate order in HiX. We want to take more information out of the consultation and use this to make it even easier for the physician to complete the clinical note. In practice, we will have to see which data are most important for a healthcare professional, but the aim is to get the most out of the available information covered in the consultation."

Two years ago

The collaboration between Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis, Autoscriber, and ChipSoft started about half a year ago. The road leading up to this collaboration took about two years. Aran: "The ability to copy data from letters and reports to the EHR in a simple and structured manner is something we at ChipSoft have wanted to incorporate for a longer time, whether it's about the information provided by the patient or a structured way of saving data in the EHR, such as measurements or the past medical history. Rather than manually registering these, we wanted to take these data from a letter and create a structure for it, so that the registration can be performed with only a handful of mouse clicks in HiX. When we had just finished brainstorming the concept, Autoscriber contacted us for a meeting about the integration of their solution in HiX. Marcel Slingerland, IT manager at Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis, had discovered Autoscriber at a convention and asked the CMIO of the hospital – Petra – whether this application could be beneficial for their care processes. After a demo by Autoscriber, they started using Autoscriber with a number of medical consultants in the healthcare facility as 'early adopters'. Everything came together after that: plans were made to push the co-creation of technology and healthcare to the next level and the ball got rolling."

Reducing the manual registration workload

Aran: "By collaborating with partners like Autoscriber, we aim to reduce the manual registration workload and create a more comfortable workspace for care providers, so that they have more time for the essential tasks. Reducing the manual registration workload is one of ChipSoft's main objectives. This collaboration with Autoscriber results in a significant time save for healthcare professionals like Petra. This really benefits their productivity and efficiency. We're very open to the idea of partnerships with parties that want to optimise work and care processes just like us."

Flexible and driven

By now, many parties are in the market offering solutions similar to Autoscriber. Aran explains why Autoscriber in particular is currently the number one preference: "It's one of the few parties – if not the only party – offering this solution in Dutch. Besides, they have a lot of technical knowledge and expertise and work with a small, flexible, and driven team that is easily approachable and always happy to help. Autoscriber also has strong connections with hospitals, which is a testament to the reliability and suitability of our collaboration."

Petra Kok is very excited about the collaboration as well: "What we've achieved so far is due to our trust in our people-to-people way of working, and because raised points are genuinely considered, which leads to things actually getting done, resulting in technology adapted more and more seamlessly to the use in patient contact."

Benefits for general practitioners

The Autoscriber integration opens many doors for hospitals, but Aran also sees a lot of possibilities for its use in general practices. "They have many consultations every day and have a standardised workflow via the SOAP method. This provides opportunities to expand. Many progressive practitioners have already started working with HiX, who will likely be open to this concept as well. Due to their cloud-based workflow and the uniformity of their methods, we suspect to be able to set them up with Autoscriber relatively quickly."

Many AI projects

The collaboration with Autoscriber is one of the AI projects ChipSoft is currently working on. Aran: "We not only apply Large Language Models in consultations, but also in composing patient-friendly summaries to use in letters or on the web portal, for example. We are also looking into voice recognition options in the apps, so that information can directly be saved to the right place in HiX."

Sustainable solutions

In short, AI will play a bigger part in HiX too. Aran: "The integration of Autoscriber in Reinier de Graaf is a great example of this. By innovating together with healthcare organisations and providers of other applications, we connect our different perspectives and create the sustainable solutions that lead to a reduced manual registration workload for the healthcare professional, and more attention for the patient, very valuable."

Petra Kok agrees: "Its important to work together and relying on everyone's expertise and talent, with which technology and healthcare are brought together. This collaboration ensures that this co-creation will actually make the digital transformation part of daily patient care. Innovation is an iterative process, in which progress is made together. It gives you fulfilment and helps make healthcare sustainable with regard to the future."

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