Setting up the right workflow with a veterinary AI scribe
So you’re ready to onboard an AI scribe at your veterinary clinic. First, congratulations! Our case studies show that ScribbleVet helps veterinarians complete their daily charts in minutes instead of hours, which means you’re on your way to saving time and money—and to closer connections with your clients and patients.
Imagine your AI scribe as a brand-new team member stepping into a role that’s never existed before. They’ll play a crucial role in your day—capturing notes during each appointment, summarizing them afterward, assisting with client communication, and preparing your notes for easy transfer to your practice information management software (PIMS). With their help, your day will run a little differently (and better). But to make the most of their presence, it’s important to come up with a workflow plan so your “new team member” can assist you without a hitch.
Below we’ve collected best practices and recommendations from our team and from various ScribbleVet users to give you every advantage as you get started with your AI scribe. (Have other suggestions that you don’t see covered here? Let us know!)
Let’s get into it.
Setting up accounts and devices
As a refresher, you can start using ScribbleVet in four simple steps:
- Log in: Open the ScribbleVet app on iOS, Android, or the web. Use the email associated with your account and the 6-digit code sent to your inbox to log in.
- Add an appointment: Tap the purple “+” button, enter your patient’s name, and tap “Add new.”
- Record the visit: Press the red microphone button and talk through the appointment—exam findings, treatments, and results.
- Generate your SOAP note: After the visit, tap “Scribble” and your note will be ready in minutes.
Easy, right? Now that we’ve covered the basics of how it works, let’s dive into a few recommendations for a smooth day-to-day experience.
Accessing your account
By default, you will be prompted for a security code each time you log into ScribbleVet. But you also have the option of setting up a password, which we recommend doing upon your first login. That way you can access ScribbleVet without being prompted for a code.
Clinics may choose to log vets into their respective devices or exam rooms at the beginning of each day so that the AI scribe is ready to go for each appointment. Customize the process so it makes sense for you and your practice.
Selecting devices
To use an AI scribe, you’ll need the following components:
- A tool that captures audio, like a microphone
- A device that can run the software program, like a desktop computer
- Or something that does both, like a phone or tablet
AI scribes can be used with many devices you may already have: exam room computers, treatment computers, laptops, tablets, webcams, microphones, Androids, iPhones, and so on. Depending on what you have available, you may use shared or individual devices. Note that if you use a shared device, like an exam room computer or tablet, vets and assistants will need to remember to switch recording on and off as they begin and conclude their portions of an exam. (More on how to incorporate techs into your workflow).
Dr. Kat Reardon, a relief veterinarian and one of ScribbleVet’s first users, has a few reasons why phones are her preferred device with an AI scribe:
“I think the phone is the easiest one because I already have it going, I can keep track [of the recording], it's easy to travel with me, and it’s not obtrusive. I always do my exam on the floor and I put my phone on the exam table, so it's a visual signal to the client: I'm not touching or looking at my phone, I'm sitting over here with you.”
She also recommends phones for sound quality, which isn’t easily matched by other devices unless you’re using a microphone, which can be costly or end up as an unintended foreign body during an exam.
Customizing an AI scribe for your clinic
ScribbleVet comes pre-loaded with our default SOAP template, which works great for most use cases. But you do have some options when it comes to customizing the platform to your liking. Here are the main customizations we recommend considering:
Email notifications
You can choose to receive an email whenever a new note is added to ScribbleVet. You can also change the email address from your personal email to the practice’s email contact to ensure there is a shared record of each visit. You can also choose not to receive any email notifications and simply review and edit your notes on the web or in the app.
Units
This one is easy. Do you prefer pounds or kilos? Fahrenheit or Celsius? Set your preference from the user settings page, and it will be reflected in all your notes going forward.
Note templates
You can tailor your ScribbleVet SOAP to match your existing notes to help cut down editing time. If you’d like to alter the structure or tone of your notes, email us an example of your current template or tell us what you’d like to see changed. Our team can tweak your notes to sound just like you. Just allow 1-3 business days to complete customization requests.
Here are examples of changes you can request:
- Reorganize subsections sections within the SOAP
- Reorder body systems within an exam
- Add custom fields
- Set preferred default normals
- Add a case summary or discharge email section
Setting up your workflow
Now, we’re ready to set up your workflow. This consists of running through your daily tasks and making adjustments where the AI scribe can fit into (and streamline) your processes. Let’s get started with an assessment of your current workflow.
Questions to ask yourself before setting it up
Every practice is different, and your AI scribe should be incorporated into your existing processes as much as possible. Here are the questions we recommend asking before setting up your workflow:
- Who will enter new appointments and patient info into the AI scribe?
- Who will take and record histories?
- How will the doctor get this information before they enter the exam room? Will vets verbally round or read notes in Scribble?
- Who will be responsible for making edits after each exam, and what will be the process for review?
- Who will own copying and pasting notes into the PIMS?
- Should transcripts be sent to the vet’s email, practice email, or a special inbox?
Establish and communicate to your team who will be the owner of each part of the process so wires don’t get crossed.
We also recommend thinking through how vet techs’ or assistants’ roles may change after integrating Scribble. Since they will no longer need to spend as much time taking notes, they’ll have time for other activities, like conducting additional research or physical support during exams. It can be good to have a gameplan for this before getting into the exam room.
How to get your staff involved
Many of our users find that involving their vet techs is key to a successful workflow with an AI scribe. Dr. Jim Botsford of Woodland Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Brighton, Mi., says, “What I’ve learned is that I definitely need to have my assistants be integrated into this process. Once I started integrating my assistants into the software workflow, that went quite a ways toward making things work on a daily basis.”
Introduce your team to ScribbleVet with a quick self-guided tour of the platform. They can also get started with our four-minute demo, led by Dr. Reardon. Once they are familiar with the platform, they’ll typically own the following activities:
- Preloading your schedule: Techs can set up your day in Scribble ahead of time by inputting patient names, client IDs, and appointment times.
- Kicking off appointments: You can ask your techs to gather the patient history and start recording in Scribble when they come to round you on the case. This enables you to focus on just examining the patient.
- Record while taking history: Or, you can have your techs record the client’s history during their intake. You’ll get a clear summary to review before stepping into the room. Then, you can start recording again once you’re in the room and hit “Scribble” to update the note with the latest details.
- Transfer to PIMS: You may choose to have your vet techs assist you with the transfer of your notes from our AI scribe to your PIMS. To do this, you would edit your notes in the web version between appointments or at the end of the day. When you’re happy with them, hit “mark reviewed” either at the bottom of your note or next to the patient’s name in the column. This will let techs know it’s time to copy the relevant sections into your PIMS. Once everything is finalized, they can hit “archive” to signal the case is complete. some text
- Note: Since a vet’s notes are ultimately their own responsibility, you may choose to own the process yourself, which you can do by exporting the sections you want to carry over to your PIMS.
Workflow examples
Here are a couple examples of how clinics have integrated our AI scribe in their daily workflows:
Dr. Rebecca Donaldson of Metro Paws Animal Hospital in Dallas, Tx., started by creating a SOAP note template specific to her practice to help reduce redundancy and manual editing. The same template was copied over to the clinic’s PIMS. During appointments, her technicians start recording once they’re done taking a patient’s history and are briefing the doctor. The doctors then record the rest of the appointment, resulting in a concise and complete SOAP note. After Scribbling the notes, doctors make any final edits and copy them over into the PIMS.
Dr. Meladee Farr is a practice owner at CityVet-White Rock, also in Dallas. She equipped each exam room with a tablet pre-loaded with ScribbleVet. Doctors and techs record their appointments on the in-room devices, and then notes are sent to a common email account to streamline access. Dr. Farr edits and approves notes, and vet techs cut and paste the notes into the clinic’s PIMS.
Best practices with an AI scribe
Let’s face it, working with AI is probably still unfamiliar to many of us—but it doesn’t have to be scary at all. Here are a few tips to help your team work with Scribble with ease.
Consent
It’s important to get consent before using an AI scribe to record your appointments. It can also be a good practice to build trust with your clients. You can get clients’ consent in the following ways:
- Verbal consent: Ask for permission to record at the beginning of the appointment. You can say something like: “Can I record this conversation to send to a service that helps with my medical record?”
- Written consent: Add a request for consent into your intake paperwork.
As a reminder, you can hang a poster letting clients know that recording might happen during appointments in the waiting area or exam rooms, or both.
We also recommend that you get familiar with your local consent laws to ensure you are complying with all requirements that apply to your practice. Consulting a legal advisor can help you cover your bases.
Sign-posting
While our AI scribe is designed to organize your notes for you, it makes the process (and editing) even easier when you clarify exactly what’s happening throughout the appointment. For example, you can begin with an introduction: "Today we’re seeing Potato. Potato is an 8-year-old spayed mixed breed, and she’s presenting symptoms of a potential urinary tract infection."
Clearly mention what you’re examining and signal when you transition to a new section of the exam. This is especially important in visits with multiple pets. Note when you switch from one pet to the next.
You're probably doing this already to keep appointments organized—just make sure you’re doing it all out loud. If there’s anything you want to ensure makes it into the exam notes, make sure to verbalize it before you end the recording.
Be yourself!
Finally, you don’t have to change the way you speak or think to use an AI scribe. Scribble even converts terminology into technical terms where relevant, so you can speak naturally and simply during a visit.
In fact, with your notes being taken care of, you’re free to be more present and give 100% of your attention to the client instead of mentally cataloguing your conversation. This can help you build stronger relationships with your clients and patients.
“We pride ourselves on being kind and loving to our clients and our pets,” Dr. Botsford said, “and we want to be very personable. [Scribble] frees us up to be able to just talk to the clients and not have to worry about the charting part of it because ScribbleVet is catching all of that.”
That’s all for our workflow best practices—for now. We plan to keep this post updated with the latest and greatest, so be sure to share your feedback and check back often for new tips and tricks. If you haven’t tried ScribbleVet yet, start your free 14-day trial today at scribblevet.com. Happy Scribbling!
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your attorney for advice on specific legal issues.
Setting up the right workflow with a veterinary AI scribe
So you’re ready to onboard an AI scribe at your veterinary clinic. First, congratulations! Our case studies show that ScribbleVet helps veterinarians complete their daily charts in minutes instead of hours, which means you’re on your way to saving time and money—and to closer connections with your clients and patients.
Imagine your AI scribe as a brand-new team member stepping into a role that’s never existed before. They’ll play a crucial role in your day—capturing notes during each appointment, summarizing them afterward, assisting with client communication, and preparing your notes for easy transfer to your practice information management software (PIMS). With their help, your day will run a little differently (and better). But to make the most of their presence, it’s important to come up with a workflow plan so your “new team member” can assist you without a hitch.
Below we’ve collected best practices and recommendations from our team and from various ScribbleVet users to give you every advantage as you get started with your AI scribe. (Have other suggestions that you don’t see covered here? Let us know!)
Let’s get into it.
Setting up accounts and devices
As a refresher, you can start using ScribbleVet in four simple steps:
- Log in: Open the ScribbleVet app on iOS, Android, or the web. Use the email associated with your account and the 6-digit code sent to your inbox to log in.
- Add an appointment: Tap the purple “+” button, enter your patient’s name, and tap “Add new.”
- Record the visit: Press the red microphone button and talk through the appointment—exam findings, treatments, and results.
- Generate your SOAP note: After the visit, tap “Scribble” and your note will be ready in minutes.
Easy, right? Now that we’ve covered the basics of how it works, let’s dive into a few recommendations for a smooth day-to-day experience.
Accessing your account
By default, you will be prompted for a security code each time you log into ScribbleVet. But you also have the option of setting up a password, which we recommend doing upon your first login. That way you can access ScribbleVet without being prompted for a code.
Clinics may choose to log vets into their respective devices or exam rooms at the beginning of each day so that the AI scribe is ready to go for each appointment. Customize the process so it makes sense for you and your practice.
Selecting devices
To use an AI scribe, you’ll need the following components:
- A tool that captures audio, like a microphone
- A device that can run the software program, like a desktop computer
- Or something that does both, like a phone or tablet
AI scribes can be used with many devices you may already have: exam room computers, treatment computers, laptops, tablets, webcams, microphones, Androids, iPhones, and so on. Depending on what you have available, you may use shared or individual devices. Note that if you use a shared device, like an exam room computer or tablet, vets and assistants will need to remember to switch recording on and off as they begin and conclude their portions of an exam. (More on how to incorporate techs into your workflow).
Dr. Kat Reardon, a relief veterinarian and one of ScribbleVet’s first users, has a few reasons why phones are her preferred device with an AI scribe:
“I think the phone is the easiest one because I already have it going, I can keep track [of the recording], it's easy to travel with me, and it’s not obtrusive. I always do my exam on the floor and I put my phone on the exam table, so it's a visual signal to the client: I'm not touching or looking at my phone, I'm sitting over here with you.”
She also recommends phones for sound quality, which isn’t easily matched by other devices unless you’re using a microphone, which can be costly or end up as an unintended foreign body during an exam.
Customizing an AI scribe for your clinic
ScribbleVet comes pre-loaded with our default SOAP template, which works great for most use cases. But you do have some options when it comes to customizing the platform to your liking. Here are the main customizations we recommend considering:
Email notifications
You can choose to receive an email whenever a new note is added to ScribbleVet. You can also change the email address from your personal email to the practice’s email contact to ensure there is a shared record of each visit. You can also choose not to receive any email notifications and simply review and edit your notes on the web or in the app.
Units
This one is easy. Do you prefer pounds or kilos? Fahrenheit or Celsius? Set your preference from the user settings page, and it will be reflected in all your notes going forward.
Note templates
You can tailor your ScribbleVet SOAP to match your existing notes to help cut down editing time. If you’d like to alter the structure or tone of your notes, email us an example of your current template or tell us what you’d like to see changed. Our team can tweak your notes to sound just like you. Just allow 1-3 business days to complete customization requests.
Here are examples of changes you can request:
- Reorganize subsections sections within the SOAP
- Reorder body systems within an exam
- Add custom fields
- Set preferred default normals
- Add a case summary or discharge email section
Setting up your workflow
Now, we’re ready to set up your workflow. This consists of running through your daily tasks and making adjustments where the AI scribe can fit into (and streamline) your processes. Let’s get started with an assessment of your current workflow.
Questions to ask yourself before setting it up
Every practice is different, and your AI scribe should be incorporated into your existing processes as much as possible. Here are the questions we recommend asking before setting up your workflow:
- Who will enter new appointments and patient info into the AI scribe?
- Who will take and record histories?
- How will the doctor get this information before they enter the exam room? Will vets verbally round or read notes in Scribble?
- Who will be responsible for making edits after each exam, and what will be the process for review?
- Who will own copying and pasting notes into the PIMS?
- Should transcripts be sent to the vet’s email, practice email, or a special inbox?
Establish and communicate to your team who will be the owner of each part of the process so wires don’t get crossed.
We also recommend thinking through how vet techs’ or assistants’ roles may change after integrating Scribble. Since they will no longer need to spend as much time taking notes, they’ll have time for other activities, like conducting additional research or physical support during exams. It can be good to have a gameplan for this before getting into the exam room.
How to get your staff involved
Many of our users find that involving their vet techs is key to a successful workflow with an AI scribe. Dr. Jim Botsford of Woodland Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Brighton, Mi., says, “What I’ve learned is that I definitely need to have my assistants be integrated into this process. Once I started integrating my assistants into the software workflow, that went quite a ways toward making things work on a daily basis.”
Introduce your team to ScribbleVet with a quick self-guided tour of the platform. They can also get started with our four-minute demo, led by Dr. Reardon. Once they are familiar with the platform, they’ll typically own the following activities:
- Preloading your schedule: Techs can set up your day in Scribble ahead of time by inputting patient names, client IDs, and appointment times.
- Kicking off appointments: You can ask your techs to gather the patient history and start recording in Scribble when they come to round you on the case. This enables you to focus on just examining the patient.
- Record while taking history: Or, you can have your techs record the client’s history during their intake. You’ll get a clear summary to review before stepping into the room. Then, you can start recording again once you’re in the room and hit “Scribble” to update the note with the latest details.
- Transfer to PIMS: You may choose to have your vet techs assist you with the transfer of your notes from our AI scribe to your PIMS. To do this, you would edit your notes in the web version between appointments or at the end of the day. When you’re happy with them, hit “mark reviewed” either at the bottom of your note or next to the patient’s name in the column. This will let techs know it’s time to copy the relevant sections into your PIMS. Once everything is finalized, they can hit “archive” to signal the case is complete. some text
- Note: Since a vet’s notes are ultimately their own responsibility, you may choose to own the process yourself, which you can do by exporting the sections you want to carry over to your PIMS.
Workflow examples
Here are a couple examples of how clinics have integrated our AI scribe in their daily workflows:
Dr. Rebecca Donaldson of Metro Paws Animal Hospital in Dallas, Tx., started by creating a SOAP note template specific to her practice to help reduce redundancy and manual editing. The same template was copied over to the clinic’s PIMS. During appointments, her technicians start recording once they’re done taking a patient’s history and are briefing the doctor. The doctors then record the rest of the appointment, resulting in a concise and complete SOAP note. After Scribbling the notes, doctors make any final edits and copy them over into the PIMS.
Dr. Meladee Farr is a practice owner at CityVet-White Rock, also in Dallas. She equipped each exam room with a tablet pre-loaded with ScribbleVet. Doctors and techs record their appointments on the in-room devices, and then notes are sent to a common email account to streamline access. Dr. Farr edits and approves notes, and vet techs cut and paste the notes into the clinic’s PIMS.
Best practices with an AI scribe
Let’s face it, working with AI is probably still unfamiliar to many of us—but it doesn’t have to be scary at all. Here are a few tips to help your team work with Scribble with ease.
Consent
It’s important to get consent before using an AI scribe to record your appointments. It can also be a good practice to build trust with your clients. You can get clients’ consent in the following ways:
- Verbal consent: Ask for permission to record at the beginning of the appointment. You can say something like: “Can I record this conversation to send to a service that helps with my medical record?”
- Written consent: Add a request for consent into your intake paperwork.
As a reminder, you can hang a poster letting clients know that recording might happen during appointments in the waiting area or exam rooms, or both.
We also recommend that you get familiar with your local consent laws to ensure you are complying with all requirements that apply to your practice. Consulting a legal advisor can help you cover your bases.
Sign-posting
While our AI scribe is designed to organize your notes for you, it makes the process (and editing) even easier when you clarify exactly what’s happening throughout the appointment. For example, you can begin with an introduction: "Today we’re seeing Potato. Potato is an 8-year-old spayed mixed breed, and she’s presenting symptoms of a potential urinary tract infection."
Clearly mention what you’re examining and signal when you transition to a new section of the exam. This is especially important in visits with multiple pets. Note when you switch from one pet to the next.
You're probably doing this already to keep appointments organized—just make sure you’re doing it all out loud. If there’s anything you want to ensure makes it into the exam notes, make sure to verbalize it before you end the recording.
Be yourself!
Finally, you don’t have to change the way you speak or think to use an AI scribe. Scribble even converts terminology into technical terms where relevant, so you can speak naturally and simply during a visit.
In fact, with your notes being taken care of, you’re free to be more present and give 100% of your attention to the client instead of mentally cataloguing your conversation. This can help you build stronger relationships with your clients and patients.
“We pride ourselves on being kind and loving to our clients and our pets,” Dr. Botsford said, “and we want to be very personable. [Scribble] frees us up to be able to just talk to the clients and not have to worry about the charting part of it because ScribbleVet is catching all of that.”
That’s all for our workflow best practices—for now. We plan to keep this post updated with the latest and greatest, so be sure to share your feedback and check back often for new tips and tricks. If you haven’t tried ScribbleVet yet, start your free 14-day trial today at scribblevet.com. Happy Scribbling!
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your attorney for advice on specific legal issues.