Patient Monitoring Roundtable No. 5 | 2026: AI-Supported Documentation – When Physicians No Longer Have to Take Notes
Under the guiding theme “AI-supported documentation,” we came together on June 22, 2026, at the Baltic for the fifth Patient Monitoring Roundtable (PMRT) of the year. The focus was on the question of what AI-supported documentation can truly achieve in everyday clinical practice – and what it really takes for it.
AI Regulatory Sandbox: Innovation and Regulation as Partners, Not Opponents
Jonas Marcello, Senior Policy Advisor for Emerging Technologies and Data Use at the German Federal Ministry of Health, opened the evening with a keynote that took a perspective that is often overlooked: regulation – not as an obstacle, but as a design challenge.
Marcello introduced the concept of the AI regulatory sandbox: a framework in which new, innovative ideas can be tested before undergoing the full regulatory approval process. This process is particularly demanding for medical devices – and for good reason. But it must not prevent innovation.
The AI regulatory sandbox provides the answer: developers receive regulatory guidance at an early stage and can address the relevant requirements while the technology is still being developed. The objective is clearly defined: “conformative by design” – meaning that compliance is not only assessed at the end but is considered from the very beginning.
This approach has far-reaching implications for the development of clinical AI. Because what applies to care robots also applies to AI-supported documentation systems: anyone who wants to build trust in technology must embed responsibility early in the development process.
Dragon Copilot in the Clinic: What Really Matters
The evening’s second keynote came directly from clinical practice – and it showed. Isabel Härtl, Project Manager in the Central AI Department at AGAPLESION, and Kevin Murray, Co-Founder and CEO of prismedi, shared their experiences implementing Microsoft Dragon Copilot in a clinical environment.
It was an honest account of their experience – with insights that went beyond the technical aspects.
Two factors proved to be particularly decisive: customization and audio quality. Dragon Copilot does not work as a one-size-fits-all solution – it requires adaptation to the specific context, the respective medical specialty, and the individual users. It also requires audio quality that cannot be taken for granted in the noisy, dynamic environment of everyday clinical practice.
Another important insight emerged – one that applies to many digitalization projects: time savings depend on the context. Whether AI-supported documentation actually saves time depends not only on the tool itself, but also on how well it is integrated into existing workflows. As Härtl and Murray emphasized, process integration is not a technical side issue. It is the decisive factor.
Workshops: From Use Cases to Outcomes
Following the keynotes, all participants continued the discussion in two workshops.
The first workshop, led by Isabel Härtl and Kevin Murray, focused on the question: Where does AI-supported documentation offer the greatest added value? The discussion revealed an interesting picture: the operating room was identified as an area with particularly high potential – but also as one with significant challenges regarding integration and technical feasibility. Here, potential and complexity go hand in hand.
The second workshop focused on outcomes: What does AI-supported documentation actually need to deliver in order to be considered successful? Three areas emerged as particularly relevant: documentation quality, time savings, and communication interfaces. The latter deserves special attention, because documentation is never an end in itself. It forms the foundation for handovers, decision-making, and continuity of care.
Conclusion
AI-supported documentation is no longer a concept of the future – it has arrived in clinical practice. But whether it truly delivers value depends on more than the technology itself: on regulatory frameworks that enable rather than hinder innovation, on well-designed process integration, and on an honest assessment of what works in practice – and what does not yet.
That is exactly what the PMRT is for.
We look forward to welcoming you on September 10 to the sixth Patient Monitoring Roundtable of the year at BALTIC Berlin (Inavlidenstraße 120/121). Our focus will be monitoring in general wards.
Join us and don’t miss out!
The Patient Monitoring Roundtable is organized by INCH Health in partnership with the Institute of Medical Informatics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
Special thanks go to our sponsors Masimo, Dräger, and Philips, whose support makes the Patient Monitoring Roundtable possible.
We also thank Jonas Marcello, Kevin Murray and Isabel Härtl for the inspiring keynote and excellent workshops, as well as all participants for their engaged collaboration in developing future scenarios for intelligent, safe, and patient-centered care.
