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The use of AI in healthcare - June 2025
AI is rapidly being integrated into healthcare practices across NSW and can be an excellent tool to support you.
Ahpra and the National Boards have developed key principles to guide you when using AI in your practice. They will help you to integrate AI safely and ethically while continuing to deliver a high standard of care.
Key principles
Ensuring accuracy of the medical notes
As the podiatrist conducting the consultation you are responsible for the accuracy of the medical record. Any patient notes generated are considered to be approved by you as the practitioner. Before entering the AI-generated record into the clinical record, you must check to make sure it’s accurate and that all relevant information has been included.
Over reliance on the AI-produced summary
While it could be tempting to rely entirely upon the AI summary produced, you are ultimately responsible for the final medical record so you need to check it’s accurate. It’s also important that the AI program can interpret the spoken word when English is not the first language for the patient and/or for you as the practitioner.
AI generated referrals for further investigations
Consent for recording medical notes
You need to have written consent from the patient before recording medical notes which should also be documented in their record. Providing information and displaying signs in the practice about AI technology doesn’t substitute for consent. You need to have a system in place to seek and record the consent for the use of AI (it may be inbuilt).
Subject to some limited exceptions, it is illegal in Australia to make a recording of a conversation using a listening device without the express permission of all parties involved.
It would be easy to capture in the opening of the recording (presuming you had obtained consent from the patient prior to turning on the software) something like ‘verbal consent to use software obtained.’
Privacy, security and storage
Before using AI, you need to meet the obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). The contract between you and the AI program provider should cover information, security and Australian privacy law. It’s also important to know whether the content will be encrypted/redacted and where it’s stored even temporarily. For example, if data is stored on an overseas server, this may breach Australian privacy legislation if specific consent is not obtained.
Other considerations
Other considerations might include:-
- whether the AI program approved by the TGA as part of their regulation of software-based medical devices
- where and how the recording and summary of the consultation is stored as well as the security implications for the data
- whether the recording forms part of the patient’s record
- whether the patient can access a copy of the recording if requested.
The benefits
An AI program that can accurately summarise a consultation offers significant benefits including:
- your focus can be entirely on your patient without your attention being diverted to write or type notes
- it can give you a measure of confidence that something important is not being missed
- from a medico-legal perspective which covers both the medical and legal aspects, to date the quality of the records have been found to be more comprehensive when compared to those completed by the majority of practitioners in Australia.
Keeping the above key principles in mind, using an AI generated record also meets the Podiatry Board Code of Conduct.
We hope this information has been helpful to help you successfully integrate AI into your practice.
For NSW Health employees, NSW Health has produced Advice on the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence which outlines useful examples of inappropriate use of AI.
Tell us what you think
The Podiatry Council of NSW is looking to provide podiatrists with shorter, more regular updates about topics relevant to the profession.
Send us an email if you have a particular comment or suggestion about this update.
