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How to Set Up an AI Scribe in your Treatment Room

6 min read
Apr 23, 2026
Leah Bens

Using an AI scribe in your treatment room sounds good in theory. Less time on notes, more time with patients. What's less clear is how it actually fits your treatment room.

Do you need special equipment? Does a device have to sit on the desk between you? Will you need to change your setup?

These are the real, practical questions that come up when choosing the best AI scribe tool to fit in the room you work in. And they're worth answering before you get started.

Here are a few you might come across:

Will an AI scribe work with a standard laptop mic? Or do I need to buy a new mic?

For most practitioners, yes. A standard laptop microphone in a reasonably quiet room produces transcription quality that's good enough to generate a solid draft note. You don't need to invest in special hardware to start finding the best AI scribe tool for you.

If your space is louder than average, like an open rehab floor or a room with significant HVAC noise, a basic Bluetooth lapel mic can improve audio quality. But that's a troubleshooting step, not a starting requirement.

Do I need to have a device in the room during the session?

Not necessarily, and this is one of the things that surprises practitioners most.

Most AI scribe tools offer post-session dictation, where you record yourself after the client has left, summarizing what happened. No client audio is captured at all. This one tends to work well for practitioners who want to keep the room feeling lower-tech, or for clients who prefer not to be recorded.

Can I use my phone instead of a laptop?

Yes, most AI scribes let you record the session on any device, and this is a great option if you'd rather keep the room feeling lower-tech. Another option is to record a voice memo on your recording app after the session, then upload the audio file into your AI scribe tool.

Where should I put my phone if I’m using it to record?

If there’s a desk between you and your client that doesn’t feel too intrusive for a phone to sit, that’s the best place. But if you want to keep your phone a little more out of sight and are planning to stay relatively still, you can place it in your pocket or by your side.

Keep in mind if you're moving around the room, you might pick up fabric rustling or movement noise in the audio file. So, keeping it somewhere stationary tends to produce cleaner audio. A small stand or propped against something on a flat surface is a practical option.

What about clients who don't want to be recorded?

This comes up a lot, and it's worth separating clearly: if a client doesn't want to be recorded, you can still use AI for documentation without capturing client audio through post-session dictation. After the appointment, you can record yourself walking through what happened during the session.

This makes AI documentation tools more broadly usable than they might seem at first, including for family sessions, privacy-cautious clients, or therapeutic contexts where a device presence would change the dynamic.

Does the AI scribe capture all the small talk too?

Generally, no. Most AI scribe tools are designed to filter out non-clinical conversation and generate notes focused on clinically relevant information. That said, you can also choose to start recording when the clinical portion of the session begins. So, if you want to let the first few minutes of small talk happen before you hit record, this will actually give you an opportunity to talk to your clients about AI and gain consent before moving forward.

What should practitioners look for in an AI scribe tool?

A few things worth checking regardless of which tool you're considering: whether it's compliant with your regional privacy regulations (HIPAA in the US, PIPEDA in Canada), whether it integrates with your existing charting system, and whether it offers flexible recording options, including post-session dictation.

A few practical things to know when you start using AI for documentation

  • Your recording doesn't have to be a single continuous file. If your mic cuts out mid-session or you need to start a second recording, you can upload multiple files for the same note.
  • Audio files in common formats like m4a and mp4 work fine, so whatever your phone or recording app saves by default will likely be compatible.
  • If you need a rough sound guide: Quiet treatment rooms and standard clinic noise (HVAC, doors, nearby conversation) work fine. Where recordings tend to struggle is consistent close-range noise competing with your voice. This could be a fan next to the mic, music playing in the room, or an open gym floor. If you can hear yourself speak clearly over the background noise, your mic likely can too.

💡 New to AI scribes altogether? This getting-started guide for health practitioners is a good place to start before you pick a method.
by Leah Bens
Leah Bens is a Senior Content Specialist at Jane, and happily helps with Front Desk magazine as a writer and fact-checker. She’s had the pleasure of speaking directly with Jane’s customers over the years and uses their stories to inspire her writing. She’s a big fan of mountains and will always double the garlic in a recipe.