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Silesian Burn Center Tests Łukasiewicz AI That Writes Medical Notes From Doctor Visits
PulsNote, a system from the Łukasiewicz Research Network's Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, records a doctor's conversation with a patient and drafts a medical note from it. The Burn Treatment Centre in Siemianowice Śląskie is testing it.
A doctor talks to a patient while artificial intelligence prepares the note for the records. The system, called PulsNote, is being tested by the Burn Treatment Centre in Siemianowice Śląskie, and it was developed by the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity of the Łukasiewicz Research Network.
How PulsNote works
The system records the conversation during the visit, identifies the individual speakers and creates a transcript. From that, it prepares a note in the format a given facility requires. According to PAP's description, it can also draw on data from earlier visits, remind the doctor of the patient's additional conditions and suggest what to ask about.
For another hospital, it is enough to change the guidelines on the note format, which is meant to let the solution be adapted to different facilities and types of documentation.
How much time it could save
According to data provided by the hospital, a conversation with a patient has so far lasted 15-20 minutes on average, and the doctor spent about 60 percent of the remaining visit time on documentation. That is the hospital's own figure, not an independent measurement. The articles do not give test results, the number of doctors or patients in the pilot, or how long it will run.
Basically, all of that time, for example in a visit that lasts 35 minutes, so 33-34 minutes, can be devoted to talking with the patient. - Przemysław Juszczuk, deputy director of the Centre of the Łukasiewicz Institute
Limits of the system
PulsNote is not meant to make diagnoses or propose treatment, and it relies solely on information from the conversation. The doctor must review and approve the note, and can jump from it back to a specific passage of the transcript. Whether recordings and transcripts are stored is up to the facility.
We leave precision and quality to the doctor. - Przemysław Juszczuk, deputy director of the Centre of the Łukasiewicz Institute
Use of the system is not mandatory. Mariusz Nowak, director of the Oncology Centre in Siemianowice Śląskie, stressed that an employee must never be forced to use something they do not want, so individual teams decide whether to use it.
What comes next
According to PAP, Łukasiewicz-AI director Jan Kozak discussed with the hospital's management launching the system in consulting rooms later this year. Its creators also see potential for deployment in outpatient clinics and doctors' offices.
The system is also being tested for use during ward rounds and in operating rooms, although additional legal and organizational requirements must be taken into account there. For Polish hospitals, it is an example of an AI solution that runs locally, without sending recordings to the internet.
