Medicine · AI
EtherMed AI
You treat. The note writes itself.
Visit note
Anna Kowalczyk · 08:40
- SMorning headaches for 2 weeks. Home BP approx. 150/95 mmHg.
- OBP 152/94 mmHg, pulse 78/min.
- AI10 · hypertension, inadequately controlled.
- PRamipril 10 mg, labs in 2 wks, follow-up in 4 wks.
01 · Problem: more time with paperwork than with the patient
Giving the visit back to the patient.
History, examination, recommendations – and then all of it again, this time at the keyboard, in the EHR.
28%1
of consultation time in Polish primary and outpatient specialist care goes on documentation and admin (for remote consultations: 43%)
85.4%2
of Polish neurologists name administrative overload as a barrier at work – more than any other
54%3
of doctors in Poland call excessive bureaucracy the main difficulty in their work
27.0%4
of their clinic working time doctors spend face to face with patients
49.2%4
of their time goes on EHR and desk work
5.9 h5
of an 11.4-hour working day a primary care physician spends in the EHR
…there are nearly two hours of EHR and desk work.4
02 · Dr Ewa’s day
A day that ends on time.
Instead of an abstract persona – one specific day of a GP at a Warsaw clinic. I look at where EtherMed helps and where it should get out of the way.
Dr Ewa Nowicka
InternistMokotów Health Centre · Room 2
“I write the note during the visit, in front of the patient – and for half that time I’m looking at the screen, not at them. Documentation takes me longer than the examination itself.”
- Full attention on the patient during the visit
- The note ready before the next person walks in
- Certainty that nothing goes into the record without her approval
Pick a moment of the day to see what EtherMed does
- 08:35
A summary of the patient is waiting on the consulting-room computer: reason for the visit, penicillin allergy, medications, creatinine trend and a week of home blood-pressure readings. A moment before she walks in is enough.
ComputerComputer: pre-visit brief- AI summary, sentence by sentence
- Allergy reminder always on top
- 08:40
- 08:52
- 08:55
03 · Ecosystem
Three devices in the consulting room. For the patient, a phone is enough.
I didn’t want yet another app fighting for the doctor’s attention. In the consulting room the Smart Display listens, and the draft note goes for review to both the computer and the phone – it can be approved on either. The phone works alongside the Smart Display in the room, and on its own during home visits, with no computer. In the middle sits the AI that connects the conversation to the note.
the screen in the room listens, AI proposes, the doctor approves on computer or phone
- Smart Display → EtherMed AI: conversation
- EtherMed AI → Phone: draft for review
- EtherMed AI → Computer: draft for review
Smart Display listens
A small screen placed where both doctor and patient can see it during the examination. It listens to the conversation in the background, tells the speakers apart and responds only to “OK, EtherMed”. During the visit it shows just the patient, the stage and the status – and at the end, the approved recommendations.
- Starts only after patient consent
- Status visible to the patient
- Physical mute
04 · Smart Display
A screen that doesn’t ask for attention.
A small screen placed so that both doctor and patient can see it during the examination. For almost the entire visit it shows the patient’s full name, the visit stage, the time and a calm glow along the edge – visible out of the corner of an eye from the desk, the chair and the examination couch. At the end – the approved recommendations for the patient. Never the transcript or the note.
EtherMed Display Room 2
01/ 06
Listening in the background
The patient’s full name, the visit stage, the time and a calm breath of light along the screen’s edge. The conversation flows as usual while the note is written in the background – this is what almost the entire visit looks like.
After the patient’s consent
The right patient, the right note
During the visit: the patient’s full name, stage and status. At the end: the approved recommendations and a thank-you for the visit. Both sides can see whose note is being written. The screen never shows the transcript or the note and never becomes a second monitor. Decisions are made on the computer or phone.
Consent the patient can see
The screen starts listening only after the patient’s consent is confirmed in the app – and from then on it shows this to both sides. Speech is recognised on the device; only text goes to the cloud.
Status always visible
Listening, muted or off the record – the patient can see it from the chair and the couch, without having to ask.
05 · Visit stages
Five stages of a visit. EtherMed helps in the background at every one.
A visit has its own rhythm: from establishing why the patient has come to saying goodbye. EtherMed recognises the stage from the flow of the conversation and shows it on the screen in the consulting room – next to the patient’s full name, so nobody is in any doubt whose note is being written.
01/ 05
Opening the visit and setting the agenda
- The patient’s full name is on screen – both sides can see straight away that the note is going into the right record.
- From the first sentences of the conversation it notes the reasons for the visit: a blood pressure check and morning headaches.
- On the doctor’s computer it brings up items from the previous visit, e.g. results to discuss.
06 · Ambient listening
The conversation becomes a note. On its own.
By default, EtherMed waits for no command. It listens, tells the doctor’s voice apart from the patient’s, picks out the clinical facts and arranges them into a SOAP note. Every sentence leads back to the words it came from.
Live transcript
Listening- Doctor00:00Good morning, Anna, please have a seat. How have you been since your last visit?
- Patient00:07Good morning. I came in for my blood pressure check, but for about two weeks I’ve had headaches in the morning. Here at the back, near my neck.Morning headaches · 2 wks
- Doctor00:22Do you measure your blood pressure at home?
SOAP note
Anna Kowalczyk, 52 y/o · 15 Oct 2026, 08:40
S · Subjective
- Source: Doctor 00:00, Patient 00:07.
- Source: Patient 00:07.
- Source: Doctor 00:22, Patient 00:26.
- Source: Doctor 00:39, Patient 00:43, Patient record. Filled in from the record: The patient did not name her cholesterol medication – name and dose were filled in from the medication list.
- Source: Doctor 01:09, Patient 01:24.
- Source: Patient 01:43.
O · Objective
- Source: Doctor 02:06.
- Source: Doctor 00:58, Doctor 01:09.
A · Assessment
- Source: Patient 00:26, Doctor 02:06, Doctor 02:41.
- Source: Patient 00:07, Patient 01:24, Doctor 02:41.
P · Plan
- Source: Doctor 02:41. To confirm: Dose change – the decision is approved by the doctor.
- Source: Doctor 03:02.
- Source: Doctor 03:02.
- Source: Doctor 03:02.
- Source: Doctor 03:31.
- Source: Doctor 03:41.
07 · “OK, EtherMed”
A command is the exception, not the rule.
Sometimes the doctor needs something right away: a result, an appointment, a correction. She says “OK, EtherMed”, and the answer appears on the screen for a few seconds – large, legible from across the room, never read aloud. Drafts still wait for approval.
Listening in the background
OK, EtherMed, show the latest creatinine results.
For 95% of the visit, EtherMed simply listens.
That was my starting assumption: the less you have to talk to the assistant, the better it works. Commands are a shortcut, not the interface.
Other commands
- “OK, EtherMed, delete the last 30 seconds”
- “OK, EtherMed, add a BP diary to the recommendations”
- “OK, EtherMed, mute until the end of the visit”
08 · Mobile app
Mission control in a coat pocket.
The phone does everything the computer does. In the consulting room the doctor usually works at the desk, but on a home visit the phone is enough on its own: it listens to the conversation and stands in for both the computer and the Smart Display. The app guides her through the whole visit: from the patient’s record, through consent and the live view, to approving the note and orders.
Today
The whole day on one screen
The schedule, the status of the consulting-room display and the next visit. Mrs Kowalczyk is coming in in five minutes.
- Upcoming visit card
- Minutes-saved counter
- Ticking off finished visits
Patient
The patient’s record at hand
The AI summary appears sentence by sentence: reason for the visit, allergy, medication, creatinine trend and a week of home blood pressure readings.
- One-off allergic reaction
- Trend presentation
Consent
Patient consent comes first
Before the consulting-room display starts listening, the patient knows what she is agreeing to: the recording is deleted as soon as the note is generated, and the doctor approves the note.
- “No assistance” is always an option
Live
A live view you don’t need to watch
The transcript flows in, split by speaker, and key phrases fly off onto the facts tray by themselves. The phone can lie face down on the desk.
- Press and hold: “Delete last 30 s”
Command
“OK, EtherMed” – only when needed
Asking about creatinine opens a sheet with the answer and a trend chart. Patient data is never read aloud.
Note
The note is ready before the patient leaves
A SOAP draft appears moments after the planning stage ends. Two sentences wait for the doctor: a dose change and a medication filled in from the record.
- The draft turns into a note
- Press and hold to approve
Source
Every sentence has a source
Tapping a sentence shows the quote from the conversation with a timestamp. Checking an AI suggestion takes a second and needs no blind trust.
- Quote sheet
- Conversation timeline with the quote marked
- Utterance timestamps
Actions
Prescription, orders and follow-up in one place
The AI prepares drafts: an e-prescription for ramipril 10 mg, a lab test order, a follow-up visit and recommendations in the EHR (and in the patient’s IKP online account). Each one needs the doctor’s approval.
Done
Visit closed
A short summary. About six minutes less spent on documentation – and full attention for the next patient.
Smart Display
Privacy under control
The consulting-room display status, mute and privacy mode in one place. The rule is spelled out here too: recordings are deleted once the note is generated.
09 · Web app
One screen at the desk.
The default workspace in the consulting room: the note next to the transcript, AI suggestions a Tab key away, and sending to the EHR. The phone app has the same features.
Visit list
The whole day in one column, with the status of every note.
Note with AI suggestions
A suggestion appears as grey text. Tab accepts it; keep typing to dismiss it.
Transcript with sources
Hovering over a sentence in the note highlights its source and scrolls the transcript to it.
Visit list
The whole day in one column, with the status of every note.
10 · Principles
Four principles I stuck to.
In healthcare, trust matters more than the “wow” factor. Every decision in the project went through these four filters.
The doctor approves, AI proposes
No note, prescription or order enters the system without the doctor’s conscious decision. AI prepares the draft; responsibility stays with the human.
Private by default
Patient consent before every visit, the state of the screen in the room always visible to both sides, recordings deleted once the note is generated. Speech is recognised on the device – only text goes to the cloud. Privacy isn’t an option hidden in the settings.
Every sentence has a source
Every sentence links back to its source – a part of the conversation or the patient’s record. Anything the AI filled in from the record is flagged and waits for confirmation.
An invisible interface
The best interface in the consulting room is the one you can’t see. No keyboard during the conversation, and a single wake word for exceptional situations.
11 · Design decisions
Why this way and not another.
The key choices and the reasoning behind them. Some of them are hypotheses – I’d test them first in research with doctors and patients.
Patients should be able to see that they’re being listened to – and when they aren’t. The screen in the room shows the recording state to both sides of the conversation: “Listening”, “Muted”, “Not recording”. Consent stops being a one-off signature and becomes something visible throughout the visit.
The screen also answers the occasional command: a result or an appointment appears for a few seconds in large type, readable without reaching for a phone and without reading data out loud.
It is deliberately calm and never becomes a second monitor: it shows the patient’s name, the stage of the visit and, at the end, the approved recommendations – but never the transcript or the note, and decisions and approvals stay on the computer and phone.
12 · Visual language
Light, quiet, with a single accent.
Plenty of white and breathing room. Colour and glow appear only where the AI “comes alive”: in the glow of the screen in the room, in the voice wave and in the moment a note takes shape.
Mark
Three arcs of a sound wave form a ring – and the letter “e”. The same shape glows on the screen in the consulting room.
Colours
Click a swatch to copy the colour code
Typography
Geist
100–900
Scale (px)
- 12
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 22
- 28
- 34
Geist Mono
04:12 · 152/94 · 0.86
Geist for the interface, Geist Mono for vitals and timers – with tabular figures so values don’t jump around.
Motion
Three motion principles, each with its own curve: breath, response and certainty.
Breath
4.8 s · loopCalm loops wherever the AI is listening: the Smart Display glow, the current-visit card.
cubic-bezier(0.65, 0, 0.35, 1)
Response
420 ms · navigationA quick, springy reaction to touch, and navigation with an iOS rhythm.
cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1)
Certainty
700 ms · confirmationApproval ends with a decisive, easing-out movement and a hand-drawn tick.
cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)
Prototype
Try it on your own phone.
The prototype runs in the browser and looks best on a phone. Walk through Mrs Kowalczyk’s visit from the brief to the approved note – at your own pace.
Scan to open on your phone
ethermed-ai.vercel.app/app