Use of Alberta’s AI scribe expanded to more ER docs

EDMONTON – A team of University of Alberta researchers including project lead Dr. Jake Hayward (pictured), Dr. Mike Weldon, and Amii Fellow Dr. Ross Mitchell have developed ‘Jenkins,’ an AI-powered scribe tool poised to significantly reduce administrative tasks for emergency room physicians across the province. After a successful pilot stage, involving 58 physicians, the team is now expanding usage of Jenkins to hundreds of emergency physicians in Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer.

“We’re excited to scale Jenkins to more emergency departments across Alberta. Phase Two represents a major step forward, bringing this technology to hundreds more physicians and embedding it into clinical workflows across both urban and regional settings,” said Dr. Jake Hayward, an emergency department physician and project lead.

“This expansion also reflects our broader vision: to establish embedded co-design systems where frontline healthcare staff are engaged in every stage of AI development, deployment, and evaluation. By doing so, we aim to support the responsible, effective, and scalable implementation of AI across Alberta’s health system.”

Leveraging deep learning algorithms, Jenkins listens to patient-physician conversations to automatically generate tailored medical notes. Building on their success, the research team has announced Phase Two of the project, expanding the AI Scribe’s deployment throughout Alberta. Phase Two also includes releasing Jenkins as an open-source platform for both commercial and research use.

Pilot results since November 2024 demonstrate Jenkins’ impact: deployed in over 6,700 clinical sessions by 58 physicians in 10 Alberta emergency facilities, it has been used for up to 85% of patient encounters in early adopters, processing over 7,500 conversations and 1,000 hours of audio demonstrating its ability to handle real-world clinical volumes reliably and at scale.

Phase Two of the Jenkins project was launched in early May to address the critical issue of physician burnout, largely driven by the estimated 18.5 million administrative hours faced annually by Canadian physicians (Canadian Medical Association). This expanded phase will equip over 850 emergency physicians across major hospitals in Calgary, the Edmonton Zone, and Red Deer with this AI-powered scribe technology, directly targeting this time-consuming burden.

“We’re thrilled to announce that Jenkins is now available as an open-source project for both commercial and research use. Initial outcomes from Alberta Health Services Emergency Departments indicate that this AI system can lessen the documentation workload, improve patient flow, and enhance interactions between patients and doctors,” said Dr. Ross Mitchell, PhD. MSc & Amii Fellow. “We’re aiming to secure funding to further develop and expand this made-in-Alberta solution to more physicians and medical specialties in Alberta.”

Cam Linke, Amii CEO, added: “This province-wide expansion illustrates AI’s potential to significantly improve healthcare efficiency and patient care. We’re excited to welcome Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Hayward to Upper Bound where their presentation will offer important insights into realizing this potential and the future trajectory of AI in clinical practice.”