OVIEDO, Fla. — Newer technology at Orlando Health is helping to bridge the gap between patients and their physicians.
While nobody wants to spend hours at the doctors, you do want to make sure that everything important being discussed during your visit is being documented.
Thanks to the Dax Copilot app, which is powered by AI doctors across Orlando Health’s family physicians network, has found a solution. One that’s helping doctors like Todd Sontag do away with the traditional style of scribing notes.
Dr. Sontag has been a doctor for well over a decade, so he knows a thing or two about how much times have changed. Scribes used to be assistants that helped with referrals and notes and scheduling appointments. Then, in Sontag’s case, he began taking the notes himself. However, he says during this era of note taking, he noticed that he was either lacking in his ability to connect with his patients, or that his note taking was a little off.
“The computer really can be a barrier to that,” he said. “So I would try to type as much as I could without looking at the laptop, but my notes were never that thorough.”
With a more holistic approach to medicine, Sontag said he believes treating patients with medicine is just as important as treating them mentally and emotionally. Making genuine connections, knowing about their lives and being able to heal the person as a whole; something he shared was not as easy to do before the Dax Copilot app.
With the app being designed to simply record the conversation between doctor and patient, the old ways of scribing is a thing of the past. But in Dr. Sontag’s exam room, a lot of conversation goes on as he makes the extra effort to know what’s going on in the lives of those he cares for. Lucky for him, and his patient Jeremy Goldberg, the app has that covered too.
“The great ting about it, when we talk about extraneous stuff, it automatically knows to eliminate that from his note,” said Sontag. “That’s one of the things I like,” he continued. “I like knowing what’s going on socially with them (patients), with their family. To me, that’s an important part of taking care of them as a whole person.”
The app isn’t just beneficial to the realm of medicine, though. For patients like Jeremy, it’s a form of assurance that when he leaves his doctor’s visit, any concerns that he has regarding what took place earlier in the day are within reach.
“The biggest difference between now and before is being able to have a lot of your records instantaneously,” said Goldberg. “Being able to start the appointment and end the appointment very quickly and not having to do a bunch of setup, and having all my documentation done y the time I get to my car.”
It’s a chance for Goldberg and Sontag to both enjoy the other important things in their lives. Uninterrupted time with their family, unburdened by the worries of work for Sontag, and a hassle free patient experience.
“At the end of the day, I’m not finishing notes, because my notes are pretty much done by the time I get to the counter. So, I’m easily leaving 30 minutes earlier every day, sometimes an hour earlier,” said Sontag. “Which means I can go home and spend time with my family and make it to my kids’ lacrosse games and do all of that without feeling rushed.”
The app has helped Dr. Sontag maintain genuine relationships with his patients by simply recording the appointments and generating the information related to the patient’s condition, their treatment plans and even any last-minute questions make it into the notes. Easily increasing the accuracy of scribing, without costing anyone any more time at the doctor’s office.
