In 2024, doctors in the U.S. worked about 57.8 hours a week. But only 27.2 hours were spent directly with patients. Pediatricians worked slightly less, about 52.8 hours each week. Still, they spent a lot of time on tasks like paperwork and managing electronic health records (EHR).
About 22.5% of doctors said they spend more than eight hours a week working on EHR tasks outside their regular hours. This after-hours work is sometimes called “pajama time.” It adds to doctor stress and burnout. Even though burnout rates dropped from 48.2% in 2023 to 43.2% in 2024, paperwork remains a main cause of fatigue and unhappiness.
Pediatricians have special demands because they manage many patients and preventive care. This means even more paperwork. It shows the need for ways to reduce this workload while keeping care quality good.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to help with paperwork in pediatric care. It automates routine tasks. This gives doctors more time for their patients. Some big health systems like Texas Children’s Pediatrics and The Permanente Medical Group tried AI tools. They saw improvements in workflow and how happy providers felt.
The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) started using AI scribes in late 2023. These AI scribes quietly listen and write down what happens during patient visits. They create drafts of clinical notes in real time. Over 63 weeks, 7,260 doctors used these scribes for more than 2.5 million patient visits. This saved about 15,791 hours of paperwork. That is equal to 1,794 eight-hour workdays.
Doctors said AI scribes helped them communicate better with patients by 84%. They could focus more on talking instead of typing notes. Patients noticed too: 47% said their doctors spent less time on computers during visits. And 39% felt doctors spoke more directly with them. Also, 56% of patients said their visits improved with AI scribes.
This AI documentation means doctors do not have to finish notes after work. This helps reduce burnout.
Texas Children’s Pediatrics started a pilot program using AI documentation. Around 250 pediatricians in more than 50 locations used it. The system cuts down on manual note-taking. It helps doctors write care notes faster and more personally. Removing repeated steps in paperwork lets doctors focus on patients during work and reduces after-hours work.
Other health systems like Geisinger Health System and Baptist Health Medical Group also use AI. They use it to manage inbox messages and improve workflows. This helps with indirect patient care tasks.
Cutting down paperwork time with AI links to better job happiness for doctors. At TPMG, 82% of doctors felt more satisfied with work after using AI scribes. This was true even in busy fields like mental health and primary care.
Doctors say AI scribes let them stop multitasking during visits. They can give more real attention to patients. This can improve care, especially in pediatrics, where trust with children and families is important.
These tools also help reduce “note bloat.” This means cutting down extra, repetitive notes that do not help care but add to work.
AI also automates other parts of pediatric care workflows. This helps reduce tasks that don’t involve direct patient care, lowering doctor fatigue.
Companies like Simbo AI make front-office phone work automatic. They handle patient calls like appointment reminders, rescheduling, insurance questions, and basic medical help. AI phone systems reduce the number of calls staff must take. This lowers stress and stops work from being interrupted.
AI answering services cut wait times for patients. They also give accurate and steady information. For pediatric practices, this helps when many parents call with concerns. It improves the patient experience.
Baptist Health Medical Group tested programs using AI to manage doctors’ inboxes. This is especially helpful when doctors are on paid time off. AI plus team care, which includes nurse practitioners and medical assistants, shares the workload. This stops burnout from constant after-hours tasks.
Some systems use AI to draft replies to patient messages. Ochsner Health uses AI to sort and respond to many patient messages faster. This boosts communication but does not add work for doctors.
Besides paperwork and messages, AI helps with clinical decisions and billing checks. Some health systems blend AI with staff training on billing and documentation rules. This stops “note bloat.” Including clinical pharmacists and scribes on teams also speeds up work. This lets doctors focus on patient care instead of admin tasks.
Fixing these issues means that healthcare leaders, IT teams, and AI vendors need to work together.
Groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) offer guides to improve documentation. Their STEPS Forward® programs help practices reduce repeated EHR tasks and make charting easier. Some strategies include:
Using these ideas along with AI tools gives a full way to lessen burnout and improve doctor well-being.
Practice leaders and IT managers in pediatrics need to know about AI tools. They can help reduce burnout and make operations work better.
This plan helps practices use resources well, cut paperwork for pediatricians, and improve clinical care.
AI is becoming a key part of handling pediatric doctor workloads in the U.S., especially for documentation and communication. Using AI for documentation, real-time transcription, and front-office automation helps pediatric practices create better work conditions. This supports doctors in giving good patient care and having a better work-life balance.
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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