Evaluation of Abridge Ambient AI Technology Regarding Provider Burnout and Patient Satisfaction With the Clinical Encounter

NCT07598721 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00022081
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 139
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a single-site pragmatic randomized control trial studying the effect of ambient artificial intelligence (AI) scribes on the delivery of medical care to patients in the ambulatory setting. The study will last 150 days and include up to 65 providers in the intervention group. Providers will be recruited from three medical specialties, including primary care, oncology, and urology. The study will enroll providers and randomize them to an intervention group (access to the ambient AI scribe product) or a control group (routine patient care). Providers will be evaluated for burnout and task load measures through digital surveys at the beginning, middle, and end of the study. Provider electronic health record (EHR) usage data will also be evaluated for time spent documenting, time spent after hours on days with scheduled clinical care, and time between the start of the clinical encounter and signing it.

Conditions

Artificial Intelligence (AI); Physician Burnout; Physician Work Environment

Keywords

Artificial intelligence; Ambient scribe; Clinical trial; Burnout; Primary care; Urology; Oncology

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI)

  Change in professional fulfillment and burnout, measured using the Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI), a validated 16-item self-report questionnaire. The instrument comprises three subscales: Professional Fulfillment (6 items), Work Exhaustion (4 items), and Interpersonal Disengagement (6 items). Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0 = "Not at all true" / "Not at all" to 4 = "Completely true" / "Extremely"). Subscale scores are calculated as the mean of constituent items. Unit of measure: mean subscale score (range 0-4) and overall burnout score (mean of Work Exhaustion and Interpersonal Disengagement subscales, range 0-4).

  Surveyed at enrollment (day 0 of pilot), midpoint (day 75), and end of pilot (day 150)

• Mean Score on NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX)

  Change in perceived workload, measured using the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), a validated multidimensional self-report questionnaire. The instrument comprises six subscales: Mental Demand, Physical Demand, Temporal Demand, Performance, Effort, and Frustration. Each subscale is rated on a 0-100 scale in 5-point increments. Unit of measure: subscale score (range 0-100) and overall workload score, calculated as the unweighted mean of the six subscales (range 0-100). Higher scores indicate greater perceived task workload associated with clinical documentation.

  Surveyed at enrollment (day 0 of pilot), midpoint (day 75), and end of pilot (day 150)

• Ambient AI scribe utilization rate (%)

  Percentage of clinical encounters in which the provider used the Abridge ambient AI scribe, measured using Abridge platform usage logs cross-referenced with electronic health record (EHR) encounter data. Unit of measure: utilization rate, calculated as (number of encounters in which Abridge was used divided by the total number of clinical encounters during the same period). This fraction is then represented as a percentage (range 0-100%) and aggregated monthly by provider.

  Through study completion, up to 150 days after the start of the pilot.

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Time Spent in the Electronic Health Record on Clinical Note Documentation (Minutes)

  Through study completion, up to 150 days after the start of the pilot.

• Time spent in the electronic health record outside of working hours

  Through study completion, up to 150 days after the start of the pilot.

Study Arms (2)

Ambient AI scribe

EXPERIMENTAL

Other: Ambient AI scribe

Routine patient care

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Ambient AI scribe OTHER

The ambient AI scribe will be available for the provider to use in the outpatient setting at their discretion.

Ambient AI scribe

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Provider is an employee of the University of Washington Medicine.
• Clinical specialty of primary care, oncology, or urology.
• Clinical full-time equivalent (FTE) of 0.2 or greater (provider must have an outpatient clinic of at least 20% of an FTE).
• Provider is a physician or an advanced practice provider.

You may not qualify if:

• Trainees (e.g., medical students, residents, or fellows)
• Provider does not have access to a mobile device that is compatible with the ambient AI scribe service (e.g., Android mobile phone).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Washington: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Washington Medical Center

Seattle, Washington, 98195, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Burnout, Psychological; Neoplasms

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Christopher W Lewis, MD, MS

  University of Washington

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Specialty Chief Clinical Information Officer for Rehabilitation Medicine

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 27, 2026
• First Posted: May 20, 2026
• Study Start: December 19, 2024
• Primary Completion: July 4, 2025
• Study Completion: July 4, 2025
• Last Updated: May 20, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: Data will be available for at least 10 years.
• Access Criteria: Data will be shared with qualified researchers whose proposed use has been approved by an institutional review board. Request for deidentified data will be available through Dryad. Requests for additional data can be made to the study's PI.

Locations

US (1)