The Clinician's Perspective: Every word matters in the ER

This article is part of our series, The Clinician’s Perspective, where we explore the intersection of AI and healthcare through the eyes of our team – former clinicians who understand the realities of patient care firsthand.

What people don’t see about life in the ER

I still remember the feeling vividly: walking into the emergency room at the start of a  shift, already knowing that the hours ahead would be unpredictable, intense, and emotionally challenging. The flashing monitors, the constant sound of alarms, the stream of patients arriving one after another – every decision had to be made quickly, every move mattered.

But behind the adrenaline and the critical interventions, there was always another reality waiting: documentation. Every patient encounter needed to be recorded, every detail captured. Not later, not tomorrow – now. What many people outside of healthcare don't see is that the work doesn’t end when the patient leaves the room. For every minute spent with a patient, there are often double the minutes spent on documentation. And when you work in a high-pressure setting like emergency medicine, this isn't just frustrating – it's exhausting and, frankly, dangerous.

The hidden danger behind every shift

In my second year training as a surgeon, I worked in the trauma room in the ER of a major university hospital. Ambulances and choppers would come in with patients who had jumped in front of subway trains. Workers who had fallen many meters into pits on construction sights. Farmers crushed by their tractors.

At the time, I was the most junior doctor on shift. My task was to collect any and all information about the patient case from the incoming team. While documenting the patient’s vitals. And everything my team, consisting of radiology, anesthesiology and surgery, often up to a dozen people in the room, were doing to diagnose and stabilize the patient. CT scan, central lines, anesthesia, blood transfusion. Everything, everywhere, all at once. On a clipboard. With a pen. Into a paper form with a carbon copy. Knowing that that carbon copy would be the single source of truth any downstream medical decision would be based on. Allergies. Previous medication. Injuries. It was a superhuman task. I was terrified to make a mistake or miss vital information.

That was true back then. And when I talk to colleagues today, I know the workload has only become worse. Emergency rooms are more crowded, staffing is stretched even thinner, and the demand for data, reporting, and compliance has exploded. Clinicians are fighting on multiple fronts – and patients are the ones who suffer when care teams are overwhelmed and forced to choose between documenting or being present at the bedside.

How AI medical scribes can change the game – if we let them

That’s why today, as someone who has lived through these experiences, I feel so strongly about the potential of AI Medical Scribes. Tools like Tandem are not about replacing clinicians or turning care into a technology-driven process. Quite the opposite. They are about giving clinicians back the time, focus, and mental space to do what they trained for: care for patients.

An AI Medical Scribe listens in real time, automatically creating structured, high-quality notes from consultations. It works quietly in the background, allowing clinicians to stay present in the conversation, with their patients, where they belong.

And especially from a German perspective, where digital tools in healthcare are often complicated, fragmented, and more burden than help – we need solutions that actually work. No endless onboarding, no lengthy implementation projects, no extra clicks. Relief in real time. Intuitive, direct, seamless. That's what makes the difference.

How this could have changed everything for me

If I think back to those hectic nights in the ER – having a tool like this would have made a world of difference. I can still vividly remember the dread of being handed that clipboard. Knowing that everything the team is saying and not only what the machines are recording is heard, documented and summarized would have taken a huge load off my shoulders. Less stress, fewer errors, more humanity – not only for the patients, but also for us as care teams.

Looking ahead and acting now

I left clinical practice some time ago to build, scale and sell health tech solutions. But I have never stopped being passionate about patient care. Which made me start the journey to get certified as an emergency medicine physician and do shifts on an ambulance again in my spare time. A back to the roots experience in more ways than one. Because the first thing I was handed was… a multi-page, 10 pt font carbon copy paper documentation form.

But from my day job I know that AI in healthcare is no longer a promise for the future. It’s here. And tools like AI Medical Scribes are among the few technologies that can make an immediate, tangible difference in the daily realities of care. Including my own.

They offer a chance to reduce the noise, reclaim time for patients, and bring back focus and connection – where it matters most. It's not about transformation in the abstract. It's about making our work and our systems more human, right here, right now.

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About Dr. Carol Wildhagen

Dr. Carol Wildhagen, Country Director DACH at Tandem Health, is a medical doctor and health tech executive with deep experience leading clinical innovation across Europe. Trained in medicine at LMU Munich and with a background spanning digital health, venture building, and operational leadership, Carol has spent the past decade scaling impactful technologies that support clinicians and improve care delivery.She has held leadership roles at digital health companies including Platform24, Pflege ABC, and Ariana Digital Health – driving strategy, partnerships, and international growth. As an advisor to EIT Health and a venture partner at two deep tech VC firms, she brings a system-wide perspective on how AI and digital tools can accelerate change in healthcare.At Tandem, Carol leads go-to-market and operations across the DACH region, working closely with partners to bring AI medical scribes into real-world clinical use.

If you’d like to discuss how AI can support clinicians and reduce admin in German healthcare, feel free to connect with Carol on LinkedIn.