AI-Transcribed Medical Consultations: A Pioneering System to be Implemented in an Alicante Municipality

AI is set to ease the workload of many professionals, saving them from more mechanical tasks and allowing them to focus on more specific actions. Medical consultations will not be exempt from this reality, as both doctors and patients in an Alicante municipality will experience this change this summer.

The project will utilise AI to transcribe the information patients convey during Primary Care consultations, with the aim of directly incorporating it into their clinical history. According to Health authorities, the goal is to support the physician's work, thus enhancing agility and, consequently, effectiveness, efficiency, and the humanisation of care.

This digital health strategy originates from the Ministry of Health, and the Valencian Community is among the first seven autonomous communities to pioneer this transcription tool.

Two health centres in the Community have been selected to trial the system this summer: one located in a large urban area and the other in a rural municipality. The latter is situated in the province of Alicante, specifically in the town of Muro. The other is in Malilla, in the Valencian capital.

The new system will operate as follows: the patient must consent to the system recording and transcribing their words, which will be summarised to highlight their symptomatology, emotional or family situation. This will allow the doctor to actively listen to what the patient says without having to spend time taking notes. All information processed by the AI must be reviewed—and corrected, if necessary—by the healthcare professional before being added to the clinical history.

The Conselleria reflects on other AI measures implemented, such as reading chest and bone X-rays, as well as mammograms. The upcoming launch of a single clinical history, which will allow access to the patient's history from any healthcare centre in the Valencian Community, regardless of the health department to which they are assigned, is also mentioned, as well as the patient's own access to their clinical record.