Impacts of human and digital scribes on improving physician wellness and reducing administrative burden: a scoping review protocol

Clinical Snapshot

Key Findings

• P Value: Not applicable - protocol

• Effect Size: Not applicable - protocol

• Primary Outcome: Protocol stage - outcomes not yet measured

• Nnt Or Sensitivity: Not applicable - protocol stage

• Confidence Interval: Not applicable - protocol

Clinical Application

High feasibility given increasing adoption of digital health solutions in Australian primary care Highly relevant to Australian practice given RACGP focus on reducing administrative burden and government digital health initiatives. May inform PBS item development for scribe services and TGA considerations for AI-based documentation tools Australian general practitioners and primary care physicians experiencing administrative burden

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The rise in administrative burden on physicians is becoming increasingly recognised as a significant contributor to burnout and job dissatisfaction among primary care practitioners. Human scribes (HS) and digital/artificial intelligence scribes (DS) have emerged as potential tools to reduce clerical workload and improve physician well-being. There has been extensive research conducted on HS, and DS show promise but require validation across diverse healthcare settings. This scoping review aims to assess the effects of HS and DS in primary care settings to evaluate their impact on administrative work, job satisfaction, burnout and clinical operational efficiency. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This review will follow the Arksey and O'Malley framework with enhancements from Levac et al, along with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) reporting guidelines. A comprehensive search strategy was developed, including Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase and Scopus databases in June 2025 with an academic health sciences librarian. Database searches will be conducted between March and June 2026. The inclusion criteria consist of empirical research on licensed physicians in primary care settings that implement HS or DS systems and measure physician-related outcomes. Two researchers will review and extract data independently using Covidence. The results will be analysed through thematic methods followed by descriptive summarisation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This review conducts an analysis of existing publications without needing ethical clearance. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presented at academic conferences where possible. The research team will make supporting materials accessible via the Open Science Framework. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/T5BHY.

References

1. 1.Filbert, B., Sareen, J., Logsetty, S., Linton, J., Dyck, J., Jhanji, G., Paletta, A., Classen, C., & Spiwak, R. (2026). Impacts of human and digital scribes on improving physician wellness and reducing administrative burden: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 16(5), e109860. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-109860