Prasad Kriti, Frits Michelle, Iannaccone Christine, Melnick Edward R, Zhang Jianyi, Mugal Aqsa, Lipsitz Stuart, Healey Michael, Holland Christopher, Snyder Richard, Sinsky Christine, Ting David, Bates David W, Rotenstein Lisa
Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Division of General Internal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Aug 5. doi: 10.1007/s11606-025-09771-5.
Virtual scribes are being explored as documentation support tools to reduce physician burden and enhance physician experience.
To characterize the relationship between virtual scribe use and physician wellbeing and identify physician characteristics associated with benefitting from virtual scribe support.
Cross-sectional mixed-methods survey study.
A total of 113 ambulatory care physicians at a large, academic health system who used a virtual scribe from 2017 to 2023.
A 14-item survey assessed the perceived impact of virtual scribes on clinician satisfaction, wellbeing, and relationships with patients. Chi-square tests and multivariable analyses assessed associations between these outcomes and key predictors (gender, specialty, years in practice, clinic session frequency per week, years of scribe use). Qualitative analyses of free-text survey comments identified key major and minor themes regarding clinician experiences with virtual scribes.
Of 430 eligible participants in the virtual scribe program, 113 physicians responded to the survey (response rate 26%), the majority of whom were female (68%), from primary care specialties (78%), and had used a scribe for at least 2 years (60%). Sixty-six percent reported improved wellbeing and 61% noted enhanced relationships with patients with virtual scribe use. Non-primary care physicians were more likely to report enhanced satisfaction (aOR 10.12 [2.06, 49.62]), wellbeing (aOR 34.60 [5.26, 227.64]), and relationship with patients (aOR 6.34 [1.24, 32.34]). Males also had increased odds of improved satisfaction (aOR 3.62 [1.19, 11.05]) and relationship with patients (aOR 4.71 [1.25, 17.78]). Qualitative themes included scribe service-related issues, documentation concerns, and provider-scribe workflow impacts.
Most clinicians using virtual scribes reported improved wellbeing and perceived relationship with patients. Non-primary care physicians and male physicians specifically had a greater likelihood of endorsing improved overall wellness with virtual scribe use. Future work should explore differential satisfaction with virtual scribe use between primary care and non-primary care specialties.
虚拟抄写员正作为文档支持工具进行探索，以减轻医生负担并提升医生体验。
描述虚拟抄写员使用与医生幸福感之间的关系，并确定受益于虚拟抄写员支持的医生特征。
横断面混合方法调查研究。
一家大型学术医疗系统中，在2017年至2023年期间使用虚拟抄写员的113名门诊护理医生。
一项包含14个条目的调查评估了虚拟抄写员对临床医生满意度、幸福感以及与患者关系的感知影响。卡方检验和多变量分析评估了这些结果与关键预测因素（性别、专业、执业年限、每周门诊次数、使用抄写员的年限）之间的关联。对自由文本调查评论的定性分析确定了关于临床医生使用虚拟抄写员体验的主要和次要关键主题。
在虚拟抄写员项目的430名符合条件的参与者中，113名医生回复了调查（回复率26%），其中大多数为女性（68%），来自初级保健专业（78%），且使用抄写员至少2年（60%）。66%的人报告幸福感有所改善，61%的人指出使用虚拟抄写员后与患者的关系得到增强。非初级保健医生更有可能报告满意度提高（调整后比值比[aOR]为10.12[2.06,49.62]）、幸福感增强（aOR为34.60[5.26,227.64]）以及与患者关系改善（aOR为6.34[1.24,32.34]）。男性在满意度提高（aOR为3.62[1.19,11.05]）和与患者关系改善（aOR为4.71[1.25,17.78]）方面的几率也有所增加。定性主题包括抄写员服务相关问题、文档问题以及提供者 - 抄写员工作流程影响。
大多数使用虚拟抄写员的临床医生报告幸福感有所改善以及与患者的关系得到改善。非初级保健医生和男性医生尤其更有可能认可使用虚拟抄写员后整体健康状况得到改善。未来的工作应探索初级保健和非初级保健专业在使用虚拟抄写员方面的不同满意度。
