AI Language Models Write Good Doctor's Letters

Generative AI should be able to write usable doctor's letters and thus potentially speed up medical documentation, according to a study by the University Medical Center Freiburg. Around 93% of the AI-generated reports could have been used with only minimal adaptations, the researchers found.

"Our results show that models specially trained for the German language can provide valuable support in the creation of medical reports. This could significantly simplify workflows in everyday clinical practice," says study leader Dr. Christian Haverkamp, Acting Director of the Institute for Digitalization in Medicine at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.

"The AI doctor's letter is an excellent example of how much potential AI applications have in medicine. For such solutions, we need bright minds who are willing to experiment and develop new things. I am delighted that we have created an environment at the University Medical Center Freiburg that strongly promotes these activities," says Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Chief Medical Director of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.

In the study, first author Felix Heilmeyer, researcher at the Institute for Digitization in Medicine, used a total of 90,000 real clinical documents from the Department of Ophthalmology at the Freiburg Medical Center to train the models. Several language models generated doctor's letters on this basis, which were then evaluated by medical professionals. The evaluations showed that with the BLOOM-CLP-German model, 93.1 percent of the documents generated were suitable for clinical use after minor corrections. In addition to the choice of the appropriate model, the researchers emphasize that its adaptation to the respective language area plays a decisive role in its suitability for practical use.

According to surveys, doctors spend almost three hours a day on documentation activities. "The automation of medical documentation has the potential to save doctors valuable time that they can devote directly to their patients. At the Department of Ophthalmology, we already use an AI tool for writing doctor's letters on a regular basis," says Prof. Dr. Daniel Böhringer, initiator of the study and senior physician at the Department of Ophthalmology at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.

The biggest challenge of the study was to ensure that the documents generated by the language model met the high standards of medical documentation in German. "Adapting to specific medical terminology and the structure of clinical reports was a particularly demanding task, as the model had to deliver texts that were both precise and comprehensible," says Böhringer.

Heilmeyer F, Böhringer D, Reinhard T, Arens S, Lyssenko L, Haverkamp C.
Viability of Open Large Language Models for Clinical Documentation in German Health Care: Real-World Model Evaluation Study.
JMIR Med Inform. 2024 Aug 28;12:e59617. doi: 10.2196/59617

Most Popular Now

AI-Powered CRISPR could Lead to Faster G…

Stanford Medicine researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help scientists better plan gene-editing experiments. The technology, CRISPR-GPT, acts as a gene-editing “copilot” supported by AI to help...

Groundbreaking AI Aims to Speed Lifesavi…

To solve a problem, we have to see it clearly. Whether it’s an infection by a novel virus or memory-stealing plaques forming in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, visualizing disease processes...

AI Spots Hidden Signs of Depression in S…

Depression is one of the most common mental health challenges, but its early signs are often overlooked. It is often linked to reduced facial expressivity. However, whether mild depression or...

AI Model Forecasts Disease Risk Decades …

Imagine a future where your medical history could help predict what health conditions you might face in the next two decades. Researchers have developed a generative AI model that uses...

AI Tools Help Predict Severe Asthma Risk…

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help identify which children with asthma face the highest risk of serious asthma exacerbation and acute respiratory infections. The study...

AI Model Indicates Four out of Ten Breas…

A project at Lund University in Sweden has trained an AI model to identify breast cancer patients who could be spared from axillary surgery. The model analyses previously unutilised information...

Smart Device Uses AI and Bioelectronics …

As a wound heals, it goes through several stages: clotting to stop bleeding, immune system response, scabbing, and scarring. A wearable device called "a-Heal," designed by engineers at the University...

AI Distinguishes Glioblastoma from Look-…

A Harvard Medical School–led research team has developed an AI tool that can reliably tell apart two look-alike cancers found in the brain but with different origins, behaviors, and treatments. The...

ChatGPT 4o Therapeutic Chatbot 'Ama…

One of the first randomized controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of a large language model (LLM) chatbot 'Amanda' for relationship support shows that a single session of chatbot therapy...

Overcoming the AI Applicability Crisis a…

Opinion Article by Harry Lykostratis, Chief Executive, Open Medical. The government’s 10 Year Health Plan makes a lot of the potential of AI-software to support clinical decision making, improve productivity, and...

Dartford and Gravesham Implements Clinis…

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust has taken a significant step towards a more digital future by rolling out electronic test ordering using Clinisys ICE. The trust deployed the order communications...