How Dr. Jane Gardiner Customizes Empathia AI to Streamline Ophthalmology Consult
PHSA
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Doctor
Dr. Jane Gardiner
Specialty
Ophthalmology
"I successfully dictated a comprehensive examination and prescription update for a young patient with Rubenstein Tabi syndrome."
The challenge
Before Empathia
Workflow Drag from New EMR
The Omni Healthcare System introduced additional friction due to slower performance and increased manual data entry requirements.
Manual Template Creation and Formatting
Importing and maintaining detailed ophthalmology templates required significant manual effort, including correcting specialty-specific terminology.
Ensuring Note Accuracy and Detail
Although dictation was already in use, ensuring consistent capture of comprehensive examinations and follow-up plans required additional review and editing.
Dr. Jane Gardiner is an Ophthalmologist working within PHSA – Provincial Health Services Authority. Her documentation workflow relied on immodal dictation combined with structured templates to generate consultation letters and patient communications.
This workflow became more challenging after transitioning to a new EMR system, Omni Healthcare System, which was slower and required more manual input than her previous system. She was looking for a way to record patient encounters and generate structured letters more efficiently while preserving the level of detail required for comprehensive eye examinations and prescription updates.
The Transformation
How Empathia AI Fits Into Their Workflow
The Discovery
Dr. Gardiner was already using a template-based dictation system, making her highly receptive to Empathia's promise of a similar workflow with AI automation. Her goal was to evaluate time-saving benefits over her existing process.
Implementation & Workflow Adaptation
Dr. Gardiner’s implementation focused on setting up a seamless recording process and mastering the tool's advanced template customization features.
Encounter Recording
She learned how to start a new encounter on the computer in each room and record a full patient visit. During a mock visit, she successfully dictated a comprehensive examination and prescription update for a patient with Rubenstein Tabi syndrome.
Template Customization (The Core Solution)
To solve her template issues, she was guided through:
Uploading a template by copying and pasting content into the platform.
Using Smart Edit to customize and train the AI for future use, including correcting specific terms like changing "HTLV" to "HTOV" in her consultation letter template.
Understanding the template structure:
[bracketed content instructions],(format-related parentheses), and example references to guide the AI's output.
EMR Transfer and Consistency
To finalize her notes:
She learned to use the "Copy All" and "Copy as Plain Text" buttons to ensure clean transfer into the EMR.
She customized her signature and footer, removing "Ophthalmology" and "PHSA" from the signature and adding a suggested AI disclosure: "prepared using a healthy AI scribe, charting support software."
After Empathia
Key Improvements
- Reduced friction caused by the slow Omni Healthcare System through direct recording and AI-generated notes
- Improved accuracy of ophthalmology-specific terminology through template customization and Smart Edit
- Cleaner and more consistent transfer of notes into the EMR using plain text copy
- Ability to dictate and capture comprehensive examinations and prescription updates in a single workflow
Using Empathia AI, Dr. Gardiner was able to record full patient encounters and dictate comprehensive examinations and prescription updates directly into structured consultation letters. She successfully dictated a complete examination and prescription update for a young patient with Rubenstein Tabi syndrome.
She customized her documentation templates within Empathia AI, including correcting specialty-specific terminology and adjusting note structure to match her preferred consultation letter format. Final notes were transferred into the EMR using plain text copy to avoid formatting issues.
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Key Features Used
Smart Edit
AI-powered editing that understands medical context
Mobile App Recording
Record, transcribe, and built-in telemed feature on the go
Templates
Customizable templates for common visit types
Dictation
Voice-to-text with medical terminology recognition
