Kevin Shi, MD<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cAlthough Al scribe use may increase documentation generation, the effect of the increasingly widespread utilization of such tools on patient communication is unclear,\u201d Shi told Healio.<\/p>\n
At a UCSF medical center, Shi and colleagues evaluated AI-drafted patient instructions across 19,691 outpatient nephrology encounters (761 using AI scribes, 18,930 without AI) from 2023 to 2025. The researchers assessed quality measures, including readability scores, character counts and the number of edits made to the AI drafts, including additions, removals and substitutions.<\/p>\n
Results showed that AI scribes were most often used during initial patient visits and telehealth appointments. AI scribe use was associated with significantly higher odds of patient instruction documentation (adjusted OR = 2.18; 95% CI, 1.41-3.38).<\/p>\n
Patient instructions drafted with AI were longer than human-written instructions (median character count, 1,451 vs. 398) and written at an advanced reading level compared with human written instructions, according to the researchers. <\/p>\n
Furthermore, clinicians edited a median of 37% of AI-drafted instructions, with the most common changes being deletions (79%). Unedited AI-drafted instructions received the worst reading scores across four reading indices, the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n
Overall, the findings suggest AI-drafted patient instructions may not be ready to distribute without human edits, Shi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough this is a small, single-center study, our findings suggest AI scribes do not produce ready-to-send patients instructions,\u201d Shi said. \u201cHuman oversight seems necessary to generate acceptable patient-facing documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
More research is needed to inform AI scribe implementation efforts, according to Shi.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuture research should focus not only on AI scribe capabilities, but also realistic implementation barriers like patient and provider attitudes toward AI, cost, etc,\u201d Shi said. \u201cThis will be critical to delivering high quality care.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information:<\/h2>\n Kevin Shi, MD,<\/b> can be reached at nephrology@healio.com. <\/p>\n\n
\n
Published by:<\/span>\n
Sources\/Disclosures<\/h3>\n Source: <\/h2>\n Shi K, et al. Abstract G-589. Presented at: NKF Spring Clinical Meetings; May 6-10, 2026; New Orleans.<\/p>\n
\n
Disclosures: <\/strong>
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ask a clinical question<\/strong> and tap into Healio AI’s knowledge<\/strong> base.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nPubMed, enrolling\/recruiting trials, guidelines<\/li>\n
<\/p>\n
Clinical Guidance, Healio CME, FDA news<\/li>\n
<\/p>\n
Healio’s exclusive daily news coverage of clinical data<\/li>\n
\n <\/ul>\n
Learn more<\/button>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"nephrology](\"https:\/\/www.healio.com\/~\/media\/h5\/feature\/news\/publogos\/neph.svg?la=en&h=30&w=142&hash=48DB28B29782E956859750F4CE62F92F\")
\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n