We all know the impact COVID-19 has had on us as individuals. From lockdown to social distancing – and back into lockdown again for some, it’s been a tough time for everyone. We’re all adjusting to the ‘new normal’ – and even the way in which we access healthcare services has changed. With coronavirus cases sadly once increasing again, the future still remains unclear. One thing that we can be sure of is that this difficult time must be managed carefully in order to try and avoid putting additional strain on the NHS.
In recent months, the NHS has re-opened some non-essential services – many of which were put on hold during the peak of the pandemic in order to prioritise those with COVID-19 and reduce further potential transmission of the virus. From outpatient appointments to therapy sessions, many of these services are now returning – though in an either socially distanced or even remote fashion.
This change in the way we deliver healthcare services – particularly the shift to teleconsultation – will certainly require consideration from leaders in terms of how they enable staff to deliver the same results for patients.
While software like Microsoft Teams and Zoom may be deployed for remote video consultations, Trusts should consider bringing in additional technologies to help clinicians as they document patient records. This is important both during and following sessions, to ensure they don’t spend too much time compiling clinical documentation and can focus on providing patient care.
Face-to-face versus digital discussions
Delivering digital patient consultations and therapy sessions isn’t an easy undertaking, as I’m sure many clinicians will agree. You don’t get the same inferences, body language and understanding from patients as you would within a face-to-face interaction. Even on video, some of this is lost. This problem will be worsened if clinicians are also forced to scribble or type lengthy notes during these sessions. They’ll also be likely to lose eye contact with the patient and quality of care could be impacted for the worse.
We need to address this now to ensure this isn’t the case, remedying the impact of excessive administrative and documentation requirements. Humanising the patient experience across digital channels requires us to think about how we support staff – providing solutions that help maintain and improve the clinician-patient relationship in these times of heightened anxiety. Deploying AI is one way to reduce this growing burden; to help save time, and boost productivity for healthcare professionals now and in the future.
Technology like AI-powered speech recognition can play a fundamental role in enabling doctors to provide the first-class services their patients are used to in more traditional in-person settings – while also ensuring the healthcare professionals aren’t burnt out by the process of the necessary clinical documentation.
Embracing technology as an enabler
Speech recognition simplifies the clinical documentation workflow – enabling doctors to compile accurate and full patient notes just through their speech. We naturally speak around three times faster than we type and, with an AI-powered solution, there is much higher accuracy. Using your voice is a more natural and efficient way to capture the complete patient story, it can also speed up the process as you move through the electronic patient record system, helping to avoid time-intensive clicking and scrolling.
We’ve seen many Trusts benefit from this technology. One of those is Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust – which had been forced to act quickly during COVID-19 when it foresaw a potential reduction in staff resources and capacity due to the impending crisis. This accelerated its requirements for speech recognition in order to manage the growing demand against capacity. Since then, the technology has seen rapid uptake throughout the trust, with a recent significant surge in usage as lockdown measures have eased and more hospital services resumed.
COVID-19 has spurred a renewed commitment to innovation throughout healthcare. This is something that we must seek to continue as the very real threat of a second wave – and the uncertainty of the winter months – looms. Artificial intelligence has the power to transform patient services as we know them; easing the administrative burden placed upon clinical professionals and giving them the space and time to improve the overall patient experience.
We’ve seen first-hand how changes in routine can influence mindsets, and now is the time to focus on the benefits of such new thinking – focusing on technology and its role as an enabler of more human patient services, even when carried out over digital channels.
Dr Simon Wallace, chief clinical information officer, Nuance
