Hospital nurses will soon have access to the generative AI tools that Abridge has developed over the past six years to assist doctors with medical paperwork.
Abridge launched a nursing-specific generative AI documentation process in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and health IT powerhouse Epic. The new tool can be easily integrated into the current inpatient nursing workflows using Epic, as stated by the firm.
Last year, Abridge announced its involvement in the Epic Workshop initiative, which included the development of the technology. Vendors outside of Epic who are working on joint technological projects are included in the program.
According to Abridge’s CEO Shiv Rao, Mayo Clinic nurses will be involved in solution building, testing, and prioritizing which processes would benefit most from the AI technology.
“Nurses are the scaffolding of the healthcare system. Being able to serve them now with cutting-edge technology that can unburden them to focus on the thing that actually gives them energy, which is patient care,” said Rao, a cardiologist working on the program.
Utilizing an exclusive data collection drawn from over 1.5 million medical contacts, the firm employs AI to enhance the efficiency and precision of medical note-taking. In real-time, the firm’s AI structures a discussion between a patient and doctor as an organized clinical note draft, which is then effortlessly integrated into the electronic medical record system.
According to Abridge, its system has expanded to accommodate over 14 languages and 50 specializations. A $150 million Series C funding round, including a strategic investment from NVIDIA, was secured by the company in February. To date, it has raised $212.5 million.
The company tailored the new solution to match the specific workflows of nurses, who frequently engage in an extensive range of activities with a high volume of patients and a wide scope of duties.
According to surveys, a large percentage of nurses are unhappy with their jobs and many are suffering from burnout. Critical nurse shortages are also impacting the industry.
Data released on Monday by AMN Healthcare shows that 30% of nurses, an increase of seven percentage points from 2021, are considering leaving the profession as a result of the pandemic.
Healthcare job board Incredible Health took a survey of over 3,000 nurses in March and discovered that over 25% of them are extremely likely to quit their position within the next year. Even though there has been some improvement in nurses’ satisfaction with staffing levels compared to 2023, 88% still feel that staffing shortages have adverse effects on patient care.
The survey found that just 11% of nurses had actually employed AI at work. While 64% think AI would have a negative effect on their jobs in general, 70% don’t think it will affect their careers overall. Moreover, 65% are pessimistic about the technology’s potential positive effects on the industry.
