Twenty clinicians across the motu are piloting a new AI scribe to help transcribe their patient notes and lessen their cognitive load.
The new technology and innovation team within Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has worked with Māori owned tech company Awa Digital to develop Tuhi, which is now in testing phase.
Tuhi records ambient audio and then transcribes voice into text before using a large language model (LLM) to transform this into comprehensive clinical notes.
The tool will become more widely available before the end of the year, when clinicians registered with My Health Account Workforce, Health NZ’s workforce digital identity service, can subscribe to start using it.
The latest Health NZ data and digital update says, “this technology aims to lessen cognitive load and enhance clarity in clinical reasoning”.
It says Te Whatu Ora handled 75.5 million outpatient and community visits in the first quarter of the year. Using Tuhi at scale and saving just one minute per visit translates to potential cost savings of $50 million annually.
Awa Digital founder Lee Timutimu tells eHealthNews that the majority of clinicians testing out Tuhi are in emergency departments with a small number of users in specialist teams like diabetes and oncology.
The majority of test users are in Auckland and Wellington, with testing happening at Wellington Hospital, Hutt Hospital, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland Hospital and Dunedin Hospital, as well as amongst other professional groups such as GPs.
He says many of these clinicians have been involved in developing the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) by providing feedback and suggesting new features.
“We have iterated and tweaked it over the last year: we got a lot of feedback and validation that has enabled this work,” he says.
Timutimu says Awa Digital has a close working relationship with the new technology and innovation team led by Jon Herries which helped them to identify areas of greatest need.
“We have managed to do a lot within a short period of time, and we are very close to making it available to the New Zealand health system,” says Timutimu.
“It is really displaying its value in terms of return on investment by saving time for clinicians.
“We had a husband and wife clinician partnership who have been testing Tuhi and reported back that for the first time in many years, they had time to go to the movies. It was a very powerful validation.”
Timutimu says the majority of hospital clinicians have iPhones and use the iOS native app to record their consultation in real time, then switch to a PC to check and edit their notes. They can then access these notes via a scannable QR code on the PC screen, rather than having to log into the same PC multiple times during their shift.
“Because staff are sharing computers and moving around a lot, this makes switching from a phone to a PC a little easier, and this feature has been a success,” he says.
The tool is designed to be able to move to different models as LLMs become more advanced, further improving time savings for users.
Timutimu adds that as a Māori tech company he is looking to prioritise enabling transcription in Te Reo, but the current focus is on getting the core product live.
The data and digital update points to challenges around data security, affirmation bias, and the need for models to handle mixed languages and accents, including local ones like Te Reo and tikanga.
“A formal evaluation will also assess the Tuhi app’s acceptability and experience to enhance healthcare delivery efficiency and effectiveness,” it says.
However, the update describes this initiative as “a major advance in leveraging AI to enrich healthcare delivery.
“Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to investigating and deploying these technologies to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of clinical documentation,” it says.
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