The Rise of AI Scribes

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The Adoption of Scribe Tech

Technological adoption has been on a meteoric rise since the invention of the printing press. And with each passing wave of innovation, there are new digital technologies designed to make our work lives simpler. AVMA’s September Chart of the Month shows it as clear as anything: veterinary practices are taking advantage of digital technologies to simplify and enhance service delivery.

Some tools, like practice management software, are widely utilized whereas others are less so. But the segment that caught our eye was around electronic medical record software. It the only service that equine practitioners are outpacing their small animal counterparts, and it’s an area that is seeing rapid change due to the darling of the tech world, Artificial Intelligence.

AI-powered scribe products are growing immensely in popularity among vets. It’s a crowded marketplace with various options for consumers. Talkatoo, Pup Pilot, Happydoc, Whippet Notes, Scribble Vet, and CoVet all have AI-powered scribe products.

Plus two more made headlines this week:

Scribenote, a startup out of Waterloo, Ontario, has raised $8.2 M to scale their operation. The funding round was led by some big names in the startup world including Andreeson Horowitz (a16z).

VetRec has also landed a big partnership with Cornell to provide practitioners at the University Hospitals with access to their AI-powered tools, plus create opportunity for joint research initiatives, where the data collected by VetRec could be used in University-led research projections.

So today we’re asking you:

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P.S. We highly recommend Netflix’s new show What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates, and the first episode is a great overview into the technology, applications, and possible pitfalls at AI. Watch the trailer here.

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The Challenges of Vet Med

Content warning: death, suicide, self-harm

We are no stranger to the unique challenges and burdens - both personally and professionally - of our line of work. Every week, we sift through stories about nasty clients, burnout statistics, and alarming rates of self-harm. And every week, we make a decision not to include most of them in Weekend Rounds, because we want to spread the joy and positivity of veterinary medicine, alongside the important news.

It often feels like we know the issues in our profession, but we’re preaching to the choir when speaking about it. The conversation doesn’t often break through to mainstream media, which is why we decided to highlight a couple of stories on the topic:

First - a new documentary called The Cost of Caring tries to understand why self harm and suicide are statistically higher among veterinarians. The filmmaker, Marie Barnas, hopes to create awareness of the issue, encourage vets to open a dialogue with one another and access help when needed, and prepare aspiring veterinarians for challenges associated with the profession.

The Cost of Caring is currently screening at film festivals and is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video.

This week, The Globe and Mail (one of Canada’s two nationally distributed newspapers) published an opinion from a veterinarian titled How to Fix The Crisis in Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Phillip Schott does a good job of bringing some of the most prevalent causes to the forefront of the conversation including pets becoming more like family, the rise in cost of care, and veterinary shortages.

Unfortunately, in our opinion, the solutions Dr. Schott put forward fell a little flat: graduate more vets, expand the technician role, and being nice to your vet are all great but we’ve been trying that for years. What’s the seismic shift and innovation that will expedite the solution?

Also this week, Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has introduced a free online course called Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in Rural America designed to provide practical strategies and resources to address mental health challenges in rural areas.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8 in Canada or the U.S. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Radiology Case of the Week

Welcome back radiology rockstars! Last week the Reading Room took a deep dive on migrating wire foreign bodies in dogs. You can follow along with Ryan and catch up on the limited literature on this topic here:

This week we are looking at a 4 year old male French Bulldog presenting for stranguria.

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Quick Hits

Here are some of the other stories that caught our eye and we're following this week from around the veterinary world and animal kingdom: