In today’s digital health era, the growing burden of documentation is reshaping the clinician-patient relationship — and not for the better. A study of activity logs for 307 primary care physicians and 31 primary care practices across the Brigham Mass General network found these providers added 36 minutes in an electronic health record (EHR) following a 30-minute patient visit.

The American Medical Association surveyed a much larger physician pool and found 77% stayed late or worked from home to complete needed documentation.

Being asked to do more with fewer resources

Clinicians are constantly being asked to do more with fewer resources. They're seeing more patients each day with more documentation and note taking required. The results are productivity losses due to clinician burnout and higher workforce turnover.

This documentation load doesn't impact efficiency - it fundamentally changes how care is delivered. Not only are doctors pressed for time to complete a day's work, but they also need to stay current with medical advancements and advancing their clinical expertise. It's amazing that any clinician has time to stay on top of what's the latest within medicine as well as advancing their own skill sets or practice.

Restoring work life balance

Though documentation has exploded in the era of electronic medical records, today's technologies may hold the key to restoring a clinicians’ work life balance and keeping care focused on human interactions - all while improving operational efficiencies.

Leveraging technology to redefine the healthcare experience

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools like the recently announced Microsoft Dragon® Copilot provide one such pathway to reduce documentation burden while preserving the human elements that make health care effective.

Combining Dragon Medical One's natural language processing and Copilot’s generative AI into one solution offers a means to elevate care delivery at a time when patient loads are rising often due to a growing aging populations’ demands.

Clinicians are experiencing the benefits

In a study of clinicians using AI powered documentation technologies reported 5 minutes saved per encounter with 70% reporting reduced feelings of burnout and fatigue and 62% of clinicians stating they are less likely to leave their organization, additionally 93% of patients reported better overall experience.

This improvement stems from technology’s ability to capture conversational notes automatically and store common or custom prompts to avoid repetitive queries. This allows clinicians to maintain better eye contact, have more descriptive conversation and dive more into some of the specific questions rather than constantly switching between conversation and fragmentation.

More meaningful patient interactions, less screen time

The ripple effects of an enhanced interaction between a patient and clinician extend beyond the immediate appointment. As documentation burdens decrease, clinicians gain valuable time that can be redirected toward professional development and improved decision making. This helps free up time not just patient interactions but also to focus on a clinician’s  own skill set and how they can improve and continue to evolve themselves as a clinician.

Benefits extend to healthcare operations

The benefits extend to healthcare operations and accessibility as well in underserved or resource constrained settings. Dragon Copilot offers additional functionalities such as language translation or better summarization on potential patient outcomes. Post visit care also improves when clinicians get back to patients faster than if they were bogged down in administrative tasks.

Unlike traditional voice dictation Dragon Copilot combines ambient listening capabilities with generative AI to create a more comprehensive documentation solution that integrates easily with existing systems, not only does this create a more streamlined experience with other Microsoft products but it integrates with EPIC and other EHR systems making it easier to incorporate into existing clinical workflows.

Working with a Microsoft Copilot expert

Healthcare organizations wanting seamless implementation can turn to systems integrators such as Avanade which has been named a top Microsoft partner 19 times in a row.  Our expertise is particularly valuable to organizations seeking experienced systems integrators with breadth and depth of knowledge of Microsoft technologies and the healthcare industry.

Avanade also offers solutions for overcoming implementation barriers around governance and clinician adoption with tools such as the Smart AI Governance Engine to help health systems and medical practices deploy AI responsibly.

As healthcare organizations face resource constraints and staffing challenges, technologies like Dragon Copilot offer a path to improved efficiency without sacrificing care quality by reducing documentation garden enhancing patient interactions and supporting clinicians work life balance driving copilot represents a strategic investment in both stronger organizational effectiveness and high patient and provider satisfaction.

Visit our online Copilot offering to learn more and see how Microsoft Dragon Copilot works for clinicians.