🔍 Your Team Wants a Scribe App. Here’s How to Choose.

Your technicians are asking about it. Your associates saw it at the conference. The practice down the street just rolled one out. The scribe app conversation isn’t theoretical anymore, it’s happening everywhere. With 25+ options fighting for your attention and monthly fees stacking up fast, how do you choose without burning months and thousands of dollars testing the wrong ones?

The good news? You don’t need to demo every option or decode marketing claims to find your answer. Five specific questions will tell you which scribe app fits your actual workflow, not just your wishlist. Here’s how to evaluate scribe apps the way practices who successfully adopted them wish they had from day one…

Connect With Your Next Practice

Ambient vs. Dictation

There are two fundamentally different ways scribe apps work. Ambient scribes listen to your entire appointment, you talking to the client, the exam, everything, and build the note from that conversation. Dictation scribes wait for you to tell them what to write, either during or after the exam. This isn’t a feature difference, it’s a workflow identity.

The Win

Choosing the right recording style means you won’t fight the app every appointment. Ambient gives you hands-free documentation but less control over what gets captured. Dictation gives you precision but requires you to actively narrate findings. Match this wrong and you’ll either feel micromanaged by AI or frustrated by inaccuracy.

The How

During your demo, record an actual appointment, not a scripted test case. For ambient, have a normal client conversation. Check if the AI captured side comments, interruptions, or owner tangents as medical facts. For dictation, pause mid-exam to dictate findings. Now alternate between both all day. Does having an app “listening in” work for you or feel a bit creepy, or does stopping to talk to the dictation app keep you focused or  break your rhythm? The one that quietly blended into your routine is likely the right fit.

I thought I understood the difference but it wasn’t until I tried both in-consult listening and dictation in real case situations that I could grasp the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. – Rebecca T., Associate Vet, Austin, TX

The “Friction” Factor

Friction is every step between finishing the appointment and having a complete note in your PIMS. How many apps do you open? How many copy-paste steps? Does it export directly or do you manually transfer sections? Most scribe apps are only just beginning to integrate with your PIMS the way you hope they should. Some PIMS now have their own built-in scribe apps, which can eliminate friction entirely if they work well. The difference between two clicks and twelve clicks is the difference between saving time and creating a second job.

The Win

Low friction means you finish notes during the appointment block, not at 7 PM. Fewer clicks also means fewer chances for copy-paste errors or time wasted double-checking that everything transferred correctly. High friction means the scribe becomes another task on your pile. Understanding friction upfront prevents the “this was supposed to save time” disappointment three months in.

The How

Map your current workflow first. Your PIMS opens the patient record, you do the exam, where does the note go? During the demo, ask them to show you the exact steps from recorded note to your PIMS. Count the clicks. Test it on mobile if you use tablets or phones in exam rooms, mobile friction is often three times worse. Red flag: if the vendor says “just copy and paste into your system,” that’s high friction disguised as compatibility. Benchmark: under five clicks total is low friction. Over ten, reconsider.

The demo looked great – and then I actually tried using it for real appointments. Record in one app, review in another screen, copy to desktop, reformat sections, paste into our PIMS. By the time I did that for three patients I was further behind than if I’d just typed it direct. We moved on to another trial knowing what to look out for. – Marcus K., Practice Owner, Denver, CO

SOAP Customization

Your practice has a SOAP structure. Maybe you always put vitals in Objective. Maybe your Subjective includes a behavior note. Maybe you have a “Plan – Recheck” subsection that’s non-negotiable. Generic SOAP templates don’t match anyone’s actual workflow. If the scribe can’t build notes the way your team writes them, every note needs manual cleanup.

The Win

True customization lets you decide what stays and what changes. Maybe AI’s plain English generation means you can finally drop the clinic shorthand that confuses new hires and locum vets. Maybe clearer notes make client discharge summaries easier to generate. Or maybe your established abbreviations stay because your team knows them cold. The point is the scribe adapts to your workflow, not the other way around. Without this flexibility, you’re reformatting every note or forcing your team to change habits that already work.

The How

Bring your three most common note types to the demo, wellness exam, sick visit, recheck. Ask if you can customize section headers. Can you change “Assessment” to “Diagnosis” or add “Patient Behavior”? Test whether you can create templates for different appointment types, surgery notes are not vaccine appointments. Critical question: if you need a new template next month, can you build it yourself or do you submit a request? If the vendor says “most practices use our standard templates,” that’s a warning sign.

We have a required Safety Check field in our Plan section because of an incident two years ago. The scribe we tried didn’t have a way to add custom fields, so every note was incomplete by our standards. The one we use now lets us build any template we want and that flexibility matters when protocols change. – Amanda R., Practice Manager, Brisbane, Australia

Onboarding

Every new tool costs time upfront. Adding an AI scribe is a big cultural step as well as an operational one. How your team experiences this first major AI technology adoption will shape their willingness to embrace future productivity tools over the coming years. That makes the vendor’s onboarding commitment critical, not just nice to have.

The Win

Strong onboarding means your team builds confidence, not frustration. When this first AI tool goes smoothly, they’ll be open to the next productivity enhancement. When it goes poorly, you’ll hear “remember that scribe disaster” every time you suggest a new system. Good onboarding also shortens the productivity dip, you’re not losing weeks of efficiency while people figure it out. Ease of use matters too, but if the vendor doesn’t invest in getting your team started right, daily simplicity won’t save it.

The How

Ask the vendor to explain their onboarding structure explicitly:

• Is it self-serve videos or do they assign a dedicated person?
• How many training sessions are included?
• Do they train your whole team at once or in waves?
• What’s the typical timeline from purchase to full team proficiency?
• What support is available during onboarding: dedicated Slack channel, scheduled check-ins, phone access?

Request references from practices similar to yours and ask them how onboarding actually went, not just what was promised. Run your trial with at least two team members at different experience levels. If the vendor says “it’s really intuitive, you’ll figure it out,” that’s code for minimal onboarding support.

The vendor assigned us an onboarding specialist who joined our morning huddles for the first two weeks. She answered questions in real time, watched us use it, and adjusted our templates on the spot. By week three, we didn’t need her anymore but knowing she was there made the team willing to try. That level of support isn’t standard, so ask for it explicitly. – Tyler B., Lead Veterinarian, London, UK

Pricing Model

Scribe apps advertise a lead-in price, but that’s rarely what you end up paying. Is it per veterinarian or practice-wide? Are technicians included or extra? What about setup fees, integration costs, or training charges? Some vendors lock you into annual contracts with payment in advance. Others charge more for features you assumed were standard. The pricing model determines both your upfront investment and your long-term cost predictability.

The Win

Understanding the full cost structure means you can budget for the actual expense, not the advertised one. You avoid the scenario where your team is trained and dependent on the tool, only to discover you can’t afford the renewal terms. Knowing the pricing model upfront also lets you compare vendors fairly instead of choosing based on the lowest advertised number that turns out to be incomplete.

The How

Get written pricing for your exact team size. Don’t accept “starting at” estimates because that number rarely reflects what you’ll actually pay. The real cost conversation starts by asking what’s NOT included in the base price. Most vendors separate setup fees, training packages, PIMS integration work, and premium support into add-ons. Some charge based on data storage or limit the number of notes per month at lower tiers.

Confirm whether your agreement and pricing payments are monthly or require annual commitment and payment in advance. Practices with seasonal staffing or high turnover need flexibility to scale licenses. Ask explicitly about price increase caps. Many vendors rely on “change creep” pricing, raising fees incrementally because they know switching vendors is painful once your team is trained. Get price protection in writing for at least the first two years.

Check the contract terms before you sign. Some vendors auto-renew with price increases. Others lock you in for 12 months even if it’s not working. Ask about their cancellation policy and whether there are penalties for ending early. The vendors confident in their product usually offer reasonable exit terms.

The demo showed $129 per vet per month. Seemed reasonable. Then during contract review we found out that was only if we paid annually upfront, monthly was actually $179. Plus a $500 setup fee they hadn’t mentioned. For our four-doctor practice, that’s an extra $3,000 in year one we hadn’t budgeted for. Get the full breakdown before you get excited about the advertised price. – Marcus K., Practice Owner, Denver, CO

Leading Providers Worth Evaluating

These four scribe apps seem to be well-regarded in the veterinary space and are worth including in your evaluation process:

• CoVet (www.co.vet)
• Dragon Veterinary (www.dragonveterinary.com)
• Talkatoo (www.talkatoo.com)
• Vetrec (www.vetrec.io)

There are at least 25 other options available. You can explore a more comprehensive list at www.vetsoftwarehub.com/category/ai-scribe.

Closing Thoughts…

Choosing a scribe app isn’t about finding the most advanced AI or the biggest feature list. It’s about honest alignment between how the tool works and how your team actually practices. The right scribe disappears into your workflow. The wrong one becomes another system to manage. Your team asked for help with documentation burden, give them a tool they’ll actually use six months from now, not one that sounds impressive in a demo but creates friction every appointment.

This decision matters beyond just this purchase. How you evaluate and adopt this first major AI tool sets the pattern for every productivity enhancement that follows. Do it well, with clear criteria and realistic testing, and your team builds confidence in change. Rush it or choose based on marketing alone, and you’re setting up resistance that will cost you for years.

---

About Veterinary Jobs Marketplace…