Clinicians’ Rationale for Editing Ambient AI–Drafted Clinical Notes: Persistent Challenges and Implications for Improvement

Abstract

Structured Abstract Objective The use of ambient AI documentation tools is rapidly growing in US hospitals and clinics. Such tools generate the first draft of clinical notes from scribed patient-provider conversations, which clinicians can then review and edit before signing into electronic health records (EHR). Understanding how and why clinicians make modifications to AI-generated drafts is critical to improving AI design and clinical efficiency, yet it has been under-studied. This study aims to address this gap. Materials and Methods We conducted semistructured interviews with 30 clinicians from the University of California, Irvine Health who used a commercial ambient AI tool in routine outpatient care. We invited them to describe how and why they edited AI drafts based on both their personal experience and review of some real-world examples identified from our previous studies. Results Modifications to AI drafts were primarily made to improve clinical accuracy and specialty-specific precision, reduce medico-legal and liability risk, and meet billing, coding, and documentation standards. Such editing was necessary due to reasons such as transcription errors, speaker attribution mistakes, overconfident statements without evidence, missing key clinical details, and AI’s lack of information about the patient context. Conclusion and Discussion Improving ambient AI documentation will require coordinated effort from vendors, institutions, and clinicians. Key targets include core model reliability (e.g., transcription accuracy), specialty-and encounter-level customization, clinician-level personalization, more effective EHR integration, and institutional support (e.g., training, governance, and standardized review guidance), complemented by clinicians’ adaptive communication strategies that strengthen human–AI collaboration.

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