Episode # 3 • 17 Jan 2025
AI's Role in Enhancing Urology Care
By his own estimate, an AI scribe gives one urologist about two hours of his day back, and an evidence tool built into it has taught him something new in the clinic almost every day. On this episode of BackTable Urology, Dr. Ruchika Talwar welcomes back Dr. David Canes, urologist at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and founder of WellPrept, to talk about how urologists can practically put AI to work. Dr. Canes explains why he sees this moment as a renaissance for physicians, how an AI scribe turned him from author into proofreader, by his estimate saving about two hours a day, and why evidence tools running alongside the scribe now answer questions in the exam room, including a question about post-prostatectomy dysorgasmia, a complaint that rarely comes up in clinic.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
03:32 - Getting Started With AI in Practice
07:24 - AI Scribes and Cognitive Load
14:18 - AI Evidence Tools at the Point of Care
18:41 - Context, Pre-Charting, and Evidence in the Exam Room
24:52 - AI for Email and Personal Workflow
29:09 - Building a Permanent AI Memory
34:20 - AI Skepticism, Privacy, and Intellectual Honesty
40:47 - Will AI Replace Physicians?
46:39 - Pre-Charting, Patient Education, and Care Journeys
49:27 - Reducing the In-Basket Burden
53:04 - Where to Start With AI
55:27 - Closing Remarks
Resources
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More about this episode
The conversation then moves beyond the clinic. Dr. Canes describes an AI layer on email that flags what cannot wait, and a permanent AI memory built from plain text files that keeps research, licenses, talks, and family life organized, with a firm rule that no protected health information goes anywhere without a business associate agreement. He and Dr. Talwar discuss what work is worth delegating to AI, push back on a recent JAMA perspective arguing that autonomous AI may outperform physicians, and run through tools for pre-charting, patient education, postoperative care journeys, and front-desk calls. Dr. Canes closes with simple advice for exhausted physicians: ask the AI you already use to build you a 90-day plan.
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