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December 5, 2025
I often think back to those consultations where a patient came to tell me what they were truly going through: a difficult grief, exhaustion from work, struggles within their family, or sometimes even dark thoughts they had never dared share with anyone.
In those moments, I tried to be fully present. To listen, to give space, to show that their words mattered. But there was always that constant pressure in the background: open the file, type, document, code, record.
Not out of a lack of empathy, but because it has become an unavoidable reality of the job: if it isn’t written down, it doesn’t exist. And this creates a gap between the attention we want to offer and the administrative requirements that weigh on each consultation.
I often found myself juggling between the screen and the patient, with the unpleasant feeling that I had to choose between human presence and administrative compliance.
This dilemma has become the daily reality for most healthcare workers. The way our system has evolved has reshaped our consultations: today, “caring” is no longer enough. We are expected to produce: produce reports, letters, certificates, billing codes, documentation.
The numbers speak for themselves, and you only need to walk into any hospital or clinic to see it: widespread burnout among healthcare workers, physicians leaving their specialty or the hospital system, residents giving up even before they start practicing, and patients who can clearly feel that something has been lost in the relationship.
I have heard so many times: “I didn’t choose medicine to spend my day behind a computer.” I’ve said those words myself more than once.
It’s not just a complaint. It’s the symptom of a system asking physicians to be clinicians, secretaries, coders, logisticians, and writers… until it suffocates the very heart of the profession.
When a distressed patient walks into the room, they are not coming for a diagnostic code.
They are not coming for a line in their chart or a category in a software system. They come seeking someone who can genuinely listen, help them sort through what they’re feeling, and offer a look that says: I’m here with you.
Over time, I realized that care cannot be reduced to a clinical examination, a prescription, or even the soundness of medical reasoning. Care is also the way we welcome someone: the tone of our voice, the attention we give, the space we allow for their words, and sometimes their silences. It’s noticing what is said explicitly, but also everything that isn’t: a hesitation, a flicker in the eyes, a sentence swallowed before it’s spoken.
But this quality of presence requires something precious: mental availability. And that is exactly what administrative work chips away at, day after day… until part of our attention shifts, despite our best efforts, toward what must be written rather than what is being lived right in front of us.
As a resident, I spent countless hours typing frantically while a patient spoke, afraid I would forget something important. I remember those double-speed consultations: the patient laying down something heavy, sometimes deeply intimate, while my fingers raced across the keyboard, trying to keep up.
It was a balancing act: maintaining human connection while filling the page. And holding that balance for too long eventually wears you down. It gradually distances you from what first drew you to medicine: being present -truly present - for someone who needs you.
When we talk about AI in medicine, we often imagine spectacular innovations: automated diagnoses, predictive algorithms, optimized care pathways. Interesting, of course - but not what is transforming our daily practice today.
The real change is much simpler: AI can give us back time. Not to see more patients, but to be fully present with the ones we already see.
Scribe AIs like Tandem lighten the invisible weight carried in every consultation. They listen with us, organize information, write the medical note, handle coding. Essentially, they take over what pulled us away from the patient. The screen becomes a support, not an obstacle.
The technology is here. The real question is how we choose to use it. To me, the mission is clear: use it to bring human connection back to the center of care. If AI can restore presence, listening, and mental space - what gives meaning to our work - then it will have achieved something essential.
We need a medical practice where the screen no longer stands between two people.
A practice where doctors don’t have to sacrifice their lunch break just to catch up on paperwork. A system where administrative tasks no longer overshadow what brought us into medicine: being with patients, understanding their stories, truly supporting them.
A medicine where our energy is no longer drained by repetitive tasks but invested where it has the most impact: in the relationship. Where care no longer happens in parallel with the keyboard, but in presence, with attention and mental clarity available.
From this perspective, the future is not hard to imagine: a doctor looking at their patient instead of their screen. A human connection restored to the heart of care. A technology that finally absorbs the paperwork and complexity instead of pulling us away from the patient.
A smoother, more breathable medicine, where we rediscover meaning, availability, and above all, the joy of practicing.
It’s a pragmatic evolution, not an idealistic dream: a healthcare system where human connection becomes central again, because technology has finally taken its rightful place.
Anis is a medical doctor with a background that bridges clinical practice, global health, and healthcare innovation. He completed his medical residency in Paris while also pursuing specialized training in value-based healthcare and innovation. He then worked in Southeast Asia on public health and development initiatives, collaborating with governments, NGOs, and multilateral organizations to strengthen health systems. Anis has also been deeply involved in initiatives supporting underprivileged communities in Europe and Asia, reinforcing his commitment to equitable access to care. At Tandem, he brings together clinical expertise, a global perspective, and a strong commitment to patient-centered innovation to help shape and scale solutions that enhance the quality and efficiency of care.
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