Heather Miller, Suki
Ambient documentation is powerful, but it’s only as smart as the context you give it. One of the most important bits of context is your specialty. MEDENT’s Suki integration now supports provider specialty settings, which helps Suki know how to generate better, more relevant notes rather than generic ones.
Here’s why choosing your specialty matters and how to make the most of it:
The “Specialty” field in Suki Preferences directs how Suki structures the note — which exam sections, narrative style, prompts and phrasing it should favor. Without a specialty set, Suki falls back to Family Medicine as the default, which may insert or omit items irrelevant for, say, psychiatry, orthopedics, or dermatology.
By telling Suki you’re an “Orthopedic Surgeon,” you nudge it to expect musculoskeletal exam details, imaging review and procedural history rather than mental-status observation or counseling flows.
Because Suki is doing more than mere transcription — it’s “listening” and filling gaps — it uses the specialty context to decide which clarifying prompts to generate. For example, a therapist might be asked about affect, suicidality or behavioral goals while an orthopedic surgeon might be prompted for ligament stability, neurovascular status or prior interventions. The specialty setting tailors those follow-ups.
When Suki has the right frame, the first draft is closer to what you expect. That reduces the time you spend deleting irrelevant content, adding missing specialty-specific parts or rearranging sections. Faster turnaround means less administrative burden and more time with patients.
With specialty context, Suki (and the MEDENT-Suki integration) will be more aligned in recommending codes, diagnoses or problem lists that make sense for your field. That reduces “noise” from irrelevant options and mismatches, and improves downstream billing integrity.
From the MEDENT “My Suki AI Preferences” documentation:
If you don’t pick a specialty, Suki assumes Family Medicine by default.
The specialty setting only appears for providers who are set up with Suki.
If a user is using Suki on behalf of a provider, Suki will use the specialty configured for the provider, not the proxy user.
Be careful: if you leave the Suki window open in ambient mode from a prior patient, Suki may not update to the new patient automatically. You must stop ambient listening (click the checkmark) so that Suki re-syncs to the current patient.
These behaviors emphasize the importance of (a) setting your specialty in advance and (b) making sure ambient mode resets correctly between patients.
“An orthopedic surgeon is going to have a very different scope—different meds, different procedures—than say a psychiatrist’s visit. I mean think about it: an argument I had with my moody teenager is not really relevant to my orthopedic appointment, but it is very relevant to my therapist’s visit.”
That’s exactly why specialty selection matters.
Therapist
Key elements: mental status, affect, therapy goals, session progress, psychosocial context
Prompts: “Was there observable change in mood? Any new stressors? Patient’s compliance with homework?”
Less interest in: joint ROM, imaging reports, surgical history
Orthopedic Surgeon
Key elements: joint stability, range of motion, neurovascular exam, imaging interpretation, surgical plan
Prompts: “What was ROM measurement? Any ligament testing? Pain with weight-bearing? Imaging findings?”
Less interest in: mood changes, therapy homework, psychosocial factors (unless comorbid)
When specialty is properly set, Suki is primed to elicit and record those relevant items rather than asking generic questions or building bloated notes.
Go to your Suki AI Preferences in MEDENT and set your specialty (if it isn’t already).
If you work in multiple subspecialties (e.g. sports ortho and general ortho), see whether you can adjust or override specialty at the encounter or template level.
On your first few notes, review carefully: notice prompts or content that seem off. Provide feedback or adjust your template so that Suki “learns” your preferences.
Train your staff (or any proxy users) about how ambient mode interacts with specialty settings — especially around switching patients and stopping ambient sessions between encounters.
Takeaway: Selecting your specialty in Suki isn’t just a setting — it’s what makes the difference between a generic note and a specialty-specific, patient-relevant, time-saving draft.
