Across the United States, doctors usually work long hours. A large part of their time is spent on tasks other than seeing patients. These tasks include writing notes, entering orders, and doing paperwork. According to data from 2024, doctors work about 57.8 hours each week. But only 27.2 of those hours are spent directly with patients. Pediatricians work around 52.8 hours weekly, which is a little less than before but still a lot. Much of their time goes to documenting and administrative work. Many pediatricians say they spend extra hours after work doing electronic health record (EHR) tasks. About 22.5% of them spend more than eight hours a week outside normal work hours on this kind of work.
This paperwork is not just time-consuming; it also affects how doctors feel. Burnout among doctors is a big problem. In 2024, 43.2% of doctors said they felt at least one symptom of burnout. A large reason for this burnout is the paperwork and documentation. When doctors burn out, they feel less satisfied with their jobs. This causes more doctors to leave their jobs. It also affects how well patients are cared for. The cost of turnover due to burnout is about $4.6 billion a year for the healthcare system.
AI technology is being used more and more to help reduce the paperwork burden for doctors. Clinics and health systems use different kinds of AI tools to make work easier and faster.
Some health groups use AI to handle simple, time-consuming tasks in managing EHRs. For example:
Using AI for documentation lets doctors spend more time on medical care instead of paperwork. Less time on notes means more time and energy for diagnosing and talking with patients and their families.
AI not only helps with notes but also makes clinical work and office tasks run more smoothly.
AI can do routine office and clinical tasks that doctors usually do by hand. For example, AI Clinician Agents help doctors with referrals, insurance checks, summaries before visits, and coding to adjust risk. This reduces the mental load on pediatricians and helps them work faster.
AI systems find care gaps, like missed screenings or follow-ups, by looking through patient data and sending reminders. At Montage Health, AI helped close 14.6% of care gaps. This includes follow-ups for high-risk patients, like those with high-risk HPV. Automating this follow-up reduces paperwork and helps patients get care on time.
Some health systems, like Ochsner Health, use AI to help doctors manage many patient messages. The AI reads and drafts first replies. This speeds up communication and reduces time doctors spend checking their inboxes.
Sometimes notes get too long and have extra information that is not needed. This is called “note bloat.” It makes records harder to read and use. Health systems like Sutter Health use AI and assistant scribes to focus on important billing notes and remove duplicates. This keeps notes short, clear, and correct for billing and rules.
Telehealth visits also benefit from AI scribes. MedPeds reports that AI improves note accuracy and patient results during virtual visits. AI helps document remote visits well, so quality care continues even when doctor and patient are in different places.
For practice managers and IT staff, using AI in pediatric care has pros and cons. Here are some important points for them:
For pediatricians, having less paperwork means they enjoy their work more and feel less burned out. Automating EHR tasks lets doctors spend more time with patients and give better, personalized care.
Several health systems in the U.S. show how AI helps in pediatric healthcare documentation:
This article mainly talks about doctors, but AI also helps nurses in pediatric care. AI automates notes, medication records, and monitoring tasks. This lets nurses balance their clinical and office work better. Nurses get more accurate data and better support for making clinical decisions. This helps the whole team work better in pediatric care.
Using AI in pediatric healthcare documentation is helping solve the paperwork problems doctors face. For administrators and IT managers in pediatric practices, AI gives a way to lower doctor burnout, increase efficiency, and improve care quality for young patients. As more healthcare groups use AI tools, pediatric care will keep getting better for providers and patients alike.
AI streamlines documentation by automating note-taking, summarizing patient interactions, and assisting in drafting responses. This reduces the hours physicians spend on electronic health records (EHR), especially outside of clinical hours, thus decreasing burnout and enhancing time for patient care.
Geisinger uses AI to optimize workflows and reclaim physician time. Texas Children’s Pediatrics implemented AI-supported documentation to reduce rote note-taking. The Permanente Medical Group employs ambient AI scribes for real-time transcription, improving physician satisfaction and patient interaction.
Physicians, including pediatricians, spend extensive hours on indirect patient care and administrative tasks such as documentation, insurance forms, and order entry. This administrative burden extends beyond work hours, contributing to burnout and reducing time available for direct patient care.
Pediatricians reported an average of 52.8-hour workweeks in 2024, with significant time devoted to documentation and indirect patient care, slightly lower than previous years but still substantial enough to impact work-life balance.
Health systems employ team-based care, embed clinical pharmacists, train medical assistants as scribes, and educate physicians on efficient billing methods. Tools like AMA STEPS Forward® provide playbooks for workflow optimization and reducing redundant tasks.
Ambient AI documentation allows physicians to focus on the patient during visits instead of typing notes. This real-time transcription ensures detailed, accurate medical records while enhancing physician-patient interaction and personalized care quality.
AI assists physicians by managing inboxes, filtering messages, drafting responses, and automating documentation tasks outside clinical hours. This helps physicians avoid ‘pajama time’ — work done after hours — improving their well-being.
Health systems educate physicians on alternatives to note-heavy documentation, such as time-based billing, and integrate scribes and AI tools to reduce excessive or redundant notes, making documentation more concise and efficient.
AI-supported documentation reduces the time spent on administrative tasks, thereby decreasing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction by allowing more time for meaningful patient interactions and reducing after-hours work.
AMA’s ‘Saving Time Playbook’ and ‘Taming the EHR Playbook’ offer evidence-based strategies to streamline workflows, reduce redundant EHR tasks, and enhance physician well-being. These resources guide healthcare leaders in implementing systemic changes for sustainable improvements.
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