Occupational burnout among clinical care providers, due in part to documentation burden, has reached crisis level. This study measured the effect of using new clinical documentation software, an 'ambient clinical intelligence' (ACI) program, to reduce the documentation workload and improve provider wellbeing. This was a randomised, control study with a step-wedge design. Providers were randomly assigned to use ACI early or late in the study. Medical records metadata captured time spent on documentation. Measures of burden and burnout were collected monthly. ACI significantly reduced documentation burden, provider frustration and burnout. Providers spent less documentation time each day, and 2.5 h less per week of off-hours documentation. This study demonstrates that the use of ACI does indeed relieve the documentation burden and had both subjective and objective benefits. The widespread use of ACI has the potential to alleviate the crisis of physician burnout.
Wendt et al. (2025) studied this question.