DR. INFO at the Point of Care: A Prospective Pilot Study of an Agentic AI Clinical Assistant
This addresses physician burnout and efficiency in healthcare, but it is incremental as it builds on existing AI solutions with a pilot study.
The study tackled the problem of clinical documentation and information retrieval burdening physicians by evaluating DR. INFO, an agentic AI clinical assistant, in routine practice, resulting in high clinician-reported time savings (mean 4.27/5) and decision support (4.16/5) with a Net Promoter Score of 81.2.
Background: Clinical documentation and information retrieval consume over half of physicians working hours, contributing to cognitive overload and burnout. While artificial intelligence offers a potential solution, concerns over hallucinations and source reliability have limited adoption at the point of care. Objective: To evaluate clinician-reported time savings, decision-making support, and satisfaction with DR. INFO, an agentic AI clinical assistant, in routine clinical practice. Methods: In this prospective, single-arm pilot study, 29 clinicians across multiple specialties in Portuguese healthcare institutions used DR. INFO v1.0 over five working days within a two-week period. Outcomes were assessed via daily Likert-scale evaluations and a final Net Promoter Score. Non-parametric methods were used throughout. Results: Clinicians reported high perceived time saving (mean 4.27/5; 95% CI: 3.97-4.57) and decision support (4.16/5; 95% CI: 3.86-4.45), with ratings stable across all study days and no evidence of attrition bias. The Net Promoter Score was 81.2, with no detractors. Conclusions: Clinicians across specialties and career stages reported sustained satisfaction with DR. INFO for both time efficiency and clinical decision support. Validation in larger, controlled studies with objective outcome measures is warranted.