Use of Heidi AI Scribe during veterinary consultations
Our commitment to providing the best care
At Bellarine Veterinary Practice, we are committed to providing high-quality veterinary care while ensuring our veterinarians can focus their attention on you and your pet.
To support this, our clinicians may use Heidi AI Scribe, a secure clinical documentation tool that assists with creating medical records during consultations.
What is Heidi AI Scribe?
Heidi AI Scribe is an artificial intelligence-powered medical documentation assistant. During a consultation, Heidi listens to the conversation between you and your veterinarian and helps generate clinical notes.
This allows your veterinarian to spend less time typing and more time focusing on:
- Listening to your concerns
- Examining your pet
- Discussing treatment options
- Answering your questions
- Providing personalised care
Heidi AI Scribe acts as a documentation tool only. It does not make medical decisions, diagnose conditions, prescribe treatments, or replace the professional judgement of your veterinarian.
How information is used
If Heidi AI Scribe is used during your consultation:
- The conversation may be transcribed to assist with note-taking.
- Information relevant to your pet’s medical care may be processed to generate a draft clinical record.
- Your veterinarian reviews and edits all notes before they become part of your pet’s official medical record.
- Any recommendations, diagnoses, treatment plans, or medical decisions remain the responsibility of your veterinarian.
Protecting your privacy
We take privacy and confidentiality seriously.
When using Heidi AI Scribe:
- Client and patient information remains protected under our privacy and confidentiality obligations.
- Information is handled in accordance with applicable Australian privacy laws and professional standards.
- Access to your pet’s medical records is restricted to authorised members of our veterinary team.
- We only use technology providers that are designed for healthcare environments and that implement appropriate security measures.
Your choice
We understand that some clients may not wish for AI-assisted documentation to be used during their consultation.
If an AI scribe is used in your consultation, you will be asked for your consent. If you would prefer not to have Heidi AI Scribe used during your appointment, simply let your veterinarian or one of our team members know before or during the consultation. Your decision will not affect the care provided to you or your pet in any way.
Frequently asked questions
Is the consultation being recorded?
Heidi AI Scribe converts voice to text and then uses the text file to process the conversation to generate clinical notes. The purpose is to assist with documentation and record-keeping for your pet’s medical care.
Does AI make decisions about my pet’s treatment?
No. All clinical decisions are made by your veterinarian. Heidi AI Scribe is a note-taking tool and does not replace professional veterinary advice or judgement.
Can I ask not to use Heidi AI Scribe?
Yes. Participation is entirely optional. Please let us know if you would prefer traditional note-taking methods during your consultation.
Why does the clinic use Heidi AI Scribe?
Our goal is to improve the consultation experience by allowing veterinarians to spend more time engaging directly with clients and patients, while maintaining accurate and comprehensive medical records.
Vets may use AI scribes outside of consultations to dictate clinical notes and analysis of test results to both save time, capture all data and produce consistent clinical records.
Questions?
If you have questions about our use of Heidi AI Scribe or our privacy practices, please contact Bellarine Veterinary Practice and a member of our team will be happy to assist.
Further information can be obtained at Heidi AI FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
