‘Game-changer’: How AI is set to address veterinarian shortages
An industry facing a national shortage is set to benefit from the AI boom, with professionals saying they are saving ‘an hour a day’.
Professionals in a surprise industry are saving an hour every day thanks to AI, and say it has been a “game-changer” among nationwide shortages in the profession.
A new AI tool is set to listen in on veterinary appointments, taking notes on behalf of vets after listening in on discussions.
Veterinarians have been in short supply across the country, with all states and territories besides Victoria facing ongoing shortages in the industry since 2021 according to federal government data.
Greencross Vets chief veterinary officer Magdoline Awad said “we don’t have as many specialists in Australia as are needed, and so therefore their time is very valuable”.
Vets are legally required to maintain clinical records for all of their appointments, and to ensure accuracy they must be made contemporaneously.
“One of the biggest stresses for vets in the profession is making sure that they’ve got the time to write these records,” Dr Awad said.
“It can be an hour a day that they’re saving by actually having a medical scribe take their notes for them.”
The AI scribe named Heidi Health has been rolled out across more than 140 general vets as well as 24 specialty and emergency animal hospitals across the country.
Australia’s vet shortage has led to increasing wait times in the country’s emergency veterinary clinics, with increasing headaches for pet owners.
Demand for vets has continued to increase largely due to an increase in pet ownership during Covid lockdowns.
“We’re a pet loving nation and subsequent to Covid, or during Covid, we saw a massive rise in pet ownership,” Dr Awad said.
“And so we found that we were in a situation where we had more pets and we had the same amount of vets.”
Brisbane veterinarian Olivia Lemmon has been making use of the AI tool in her consults, and said clients are now experiencing shorter wait times “because we don’t have to write all those notes down from the previous consult”.
“The extra time is just getting put back into the extra patients that we can see,” she said.
“It was more than we could have expected the computer to do, but of course that’s technology for you and AI.”
Vet bills aren’t set for any changes as a result of the innovation, but Dr Lemmon said clients “are loving it and the pets aren’t waiting as long”.
“There’s just not enough time in the day to be able to do what you want to be doing, which is focusing on the client and then doing all the additional admin time.”
Originally published as ‘Game-changer’: How AI is set to address veterinarian shortages
