As your appointment winds down, your physician turns from you to the computer. Fingers move across the keyboard as they record every symptom, concern, and decision before the next patient arrives. 

It's become a familiar scene in modern health care. The clinic appointment ends, but the documentation often doesn't. For many physicians, hours of charting await after the last patient of the day has been seen. 

It's the unseen side of modern medicine: essential work that happens long after the appointment is over. 

For Dr. Siddhartha Srivastava, that growing administrative burden isn't simply an operational reality. It's time taken away from the reason most physicians entered medicine in the first place: caring for people. 

His latest research project, a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) scribe project, aims to change that by giving clinicians more time to connect with patients, ask meaningful questions, perform thorough examinations and make informed decisions. 

Predictable, but not Inevitable 

As one of the physician leaders behind Lumeo, the region's electronic health record, Dr. Srivastava is well aware of both the benefits and challenges that technology can bring. 

Lumeo transformed how information is shared across KHSC and its six regional partner health care organizations, making it easier for care teams to access a patient's history wherever they receive treatment. But those benefits have come with an unintended consequence: time spent on documentation has increased. "My background is clinical informatics – using information and technology to improve human health.  I've seen what happens after large EHR implementations. I knew this challenge was coming, so the goal was always to find ways to address it." 

For Dr. Srivastava, documentation burden wasn't simply the cost of modern medicine. It was an unintended consequence. 

"As we launched the electronic health record system, AI scribes were becoming more widely available, creating an opportunity to address the issue." 

Alongside colleague Dr. Denyse Richardson, Dr. Srivastava helped bring together a group of physicians determined to tackle the growing documentation burden. 

Funding for the generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) scribe project was made possible by the Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank as part of the Health Care Unburdened Grant program. 

Through this grant, KHSC and its partner sites received funding to implement and explore the role of AI in reducing administrative burden for physicians. 

"The AI scribe uses ambient listening to create a draft summary note after speaking with a patient. By the time I return to my computer, there's already a note for me to review, edit, and finalize." 

Keeping Humanity at the Heart of Health Care 

For Dr. Srivastava, however, the technology itself isn't the story. 

"Our goal is for physicians to finish their day feeling like they’re actually done. That matters for physician wellness.” 

Instead of shifting their attention between the patient and the keyboard, physicians can focus on the conversation happening in front of them. 

“When clinicians don’t have to worry about documenting everything in real time, they can focus on the patient in front of them, and we often hear that clinicians feel more connected to their patients." 

Early results show that physicians are spending less time charting after hours, with more time focused on the patient during appointments. 

"We’re already seeing physicians spend less time charting after hours and more time focused on patients during visits. One physician told us, ‘This is one of the most efficient things I’ve used in a long time.’ They finished their morning clinic documentation two hours earlier than expected.” 

Bringing Joy Back to Medicine 

Although the pilot has only been underway for a short time, the early response has been very positive and encouraging. 

"Many physicians entered health care because they enjoy helping people, not because they enjoy documentation." 

It's a simple observation, but it's the very human drive behind this AI project. 

"AI scribe is a tool. It helps assist, support, and augment the conversation that clinicians have, but it never replaces the role itself." 

For Dr. Srivastava, success won't be measured by how many AI notes are created. It will be measured in something far more human: a physician looking at a patient instead of a keyboard, leaving work on time instead of taking it home, and finding a little more joy in the profession they chose. 

In the end, that's what this project is really about—not artificial intelligence, but giving physicians the freedom to be fully present with the people who need them most. ​