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Heidi Team
“No longer does the computer need to be in between the patient and the clinician.” - Dr Stephen Priestley, Clinical Director of Digital Transformation
Key highlights
Sunshine Coast Health cares for around 492,000 people across five hospitals and a network of community health centres, from the 728-bed Sunshine Coast University Hospital to the rural hospital at Maleny. Across the service, clinicians were spending large parts of their shifts on documentation, often typing with a screen between them and the person they were caring for.
Sunshine Coast Health ran a 14-week pilot with 48 clinicians. It was led by Dr Stephen Priestley, Clinical Director of Digital Transformation and an emergency physician of 30 years. The project team tracked each clinician against their own baseline across documentation time, patient interactions, letter turnaround and note quality.
Clinicians saw a significant time saving, with 572 hours of documentation supported in total. Claimed and unclaimed overtime both fell. For those who had relied on transcription services, letters that could take more than 30 days went out within an hour. Clinicians described the change as liberating, saying they felt far more engaged with their patients.
Dr Ianthe Mills, a paediatrician with Sunshine Coast Health since 2016, was among the first clinicians to join the pilot. Paediatrics carries one of the heaviest documentation loads in the hospital. Developmental assessments rely on watching the child, from how they move to the eye contact they make. Sessions can run 90 minutes, and until the pilot she spent them typing with the child sitting almost behind her. “It really put up a kind of wall or barrier between me and the family,” she says.
With Heidi running, she can turn to face the family. "I'm gathering so much clinical information at the same time as I'm creating rapport," she says. She went on to introduce it across paediatrics and child health, where colleagues who were reluctant at first changed their minds once they saw it in use.
The results were compelling, and clinicians outside the pilot were already asking for access. “It wasn’t a big sell” to the executive, Stephen says. He frames the case as released capacity. Clinicians and their teams decide where the time goes, whether that's finishing on time, teaching or more time with patients.
The rollout began three months after approval, and within five months over 1,200 clinicians had been trained. Every clinician completes mandatory training on patient consent and checking notes for accuracy before receiving a licence.
The decision Stephen is proudest of is opening Heidi to all clinicians, not just doctors. Nurses and allied health staff also spend long stretches with patients and carry heavy documentation of their own, and many have messaged him to say thank you.
I hear from a number of clinicians as I go around that Heidi has just lightened their load in terms of being able to deliver great care.
Dr Stephen Priestley
For patients, the change starts with where their clinician is looking. Stephen says patients surveyed felt their clinician was "more engaged with them, able to direct their full attention to them."
Families have been open to having Heidi in the room. After an autism diagnosis, the letter that opens the door to support used to take Ianthe days to write and weeks to send. Now it's ready before the family goes home.
They can actually walk away with the documentation they need to start the process of getting support for their child. So that's been revolutionary not just for me but also for the families.
Dr Ianthe Mills
Ianthe used to spend 20 to 30 minutes on each document after a session, from the medical record note to letters for the GP, the NDIS and the child’s occupational therapist. Now all four come from one Heidi session, and she estimates Heidi supports 10 to 15 hours of her documentation each week. Even a short phone review now comes with an update to the GP so every touchpoint is shared.
Ianthe has two young kids, and the paperwork used to come home with her. There would be an NDIS letter still to write, letters waiting in the typing pool and an urgent one she knew had to go out.
All of that burden has now been removed. I'm finding that the home time can really be spent for family, for decompressing, not having to think about work as much. It's been really, really lovely.
Dr Ianthe Mills
Stephen expects AI scribes to shape where clinicians choose to work, the way an electronic health record already does. With "an exploding amount of literature and evidence" behind them, he doesn't think other health services need to keep testing. If documentation is weighing on their clinicians, "by all means try it small first before going large," he says. "But I don't think we need to do lots of little pilots anymore. Certainly not in larger health services."
Clinicians face constant demands. If some of that load can come off while the notes stay as good or better, Stephen says, "then you're really doing clinicians and patients a service."
Heidi Team
Giulia Pedrazzini
Heidi Team
