Evaluating the Effectiveness of an AI-powered Physician Assistant in Improving Patients' and Physician's Satisfaction in an Outpatient Setting of a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Patient satisfaction is conceptualized through the lens of perceived quality of care, which is influenced by the effective utilization of waiting time and the provision of patient-centred care. Effective utilization of waiting time refers to patients' perceptions regarding whether their waiting time was used meaningfully during the visit. The domains of patient-centred care have been adapted from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) framework and include respect for patients' values and preferences, coordinated and integrated care, adequacy of information and communication, emotional support, involvement of family and friends, and physical comfort. These questions have been adapted based on the study objectives. The questionnaire will include demographic questions and five-point Likert-scale items (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree) and one open-ended question to obtain additional feedback regarding patients' experiences and satisfaction.

It will be assessed with regards to integration of an AI-powered physician assistant, focusing on usability, impact on workflow efficiency, evidence based treatment recommendations and improved patient-physician interaction.

Physician's satisfaction will be calculated utilizing mean scoring system, where each question will be scored on a 5 point Likert scale (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree). Additionally, we will ask one open-ended question at the end of the survey as part of physician satisfaction. This tool will be made exclusively for this study and will undergo content validation.

Consultation time (calculated in minutes) refers to the time taken by the physician while the patient is in the physician's room and the time taken by the physician for each of the following: to inquire about symptoms, conduct an examination, prescribe treatment, and provide counselling.

It will be measured using timestamps from a stopwatch from the time the patient enters the consultation room till the time they leave.

Mean queuing time for each patient before the consultation process begins. Queuing time (calculated in minutes) refers to the time spent by a patient in the waiting area after their registration has been completed till the start of their consultation.

It will be recorded using timestamps in two steps: one starting from the registration till the vitals are taken, secondly after vitals have been recorded till the patient visit the physician. These timings will be combined into a single aggregated time and will be calculated once for each patient.