AI is here…..and it is making me a better physio!

I never really see myself as a super-early adopter with these type of things but I am perhaps closer to the leading pack with my new-found love of AI.

The "Matrix" vs. The Reality 

I know people are (rightly) concerned about AI taking over the world….. I listened to a highly regarded, main-stream Podcast the other week whereby the reputable guest was foreseeing the literal end of civilisation in the very near future with Matrix style human battery packs!! There is also the fear that folks won’t ever bother to learn stuff as they have this ‘PHD in everything’ sidekick in their pocket….. I get all that and, being old fashioned at heart, I do hanker after a simple life without all this tech to bamboozle us…… HOWEVER…..

The End of the "Dullest Part" of My Job…..

Note-keeping is vital, but it’s the least exciting part of my day. They say "the mightiest brain is not equal to the weakest pen," but a few months back I traded my pen (or rather keyboard…) for a GDPR-compliant, safe system called Heidi.

The notion is simple:

• It "listens" to our session.

• It creates a clinical note based on my specific templates.

• I review it, check for accuracy, and transfer it to the patient file.

It is also amazing for writing clinic letters or the sometimes requested ‘quick summary’ email patients can ask for…

Still the Boss…

It does not tell me how to treat patients, suggest diagnoses or interfere with my ‘well-honed’ clinical reasoning. It just takes the naff job of note writing and does it better than I can….. I do not think that this will replace me so I can sleep well…

Unexpected Side-effects!

As an unexpected side effect though I have two main

observations.

Firstly I talk less about myself, and let’s face it folks are with me for them and their issues to be front and centre, not to hear about my grumbles. The AI cannot differentiate between me giving an update on my AC joint injury (…it’s doing well btw) and the patients gammy ankle so it just whacks it all on the page….

• The second thing, which is perhaps most useful, is that I make a point of being extra clear and precise in my explanations and advice to my patients, in part so that the AI can record it really well in my notes. This side-effect really helps with buy-in, understanding, compliance and as a result overall success.

So, overall, at this moment in time I think my role overall is safe from AI. I will use things like ChatGPT for its amazing ability to search for stuff that would have taken me days and summarise it in seconds but with the LLM it is all about asking the right question. With my Clinical note keeping AI it is just about being the therapist that it has taken me 25 years to become and letting tech do the boring bit…..

(This blog was, btw, written entirely by me, a human…. I think you can get AI to check that but I wouldn’t have a clue how.......Any thoughts or questions let me know.)