Why 73% of Physicians Lose 20+ Hours Each Week on Paperwork

Doctors spend more than 20 hours a week handling documentation, leaving less time for direct care and adding to burnout. Administrative tasks like updating electronic health records (EHRs) slow efficiency and affect care outcomes. A practical fix is AI tools such as SOAPsuds, which convert patient visits into clear clinical notes automatically. Early users note major time savings.

Key Points: 

• 73% of physicians struggle with excessive documentation, creating stress and tiredness.
• AI solutions like SOAPsuds ease manual entry through voice recognition and automated note building.
• At $149 monthly, SOAPsuds saves hours each week and helps restore balance.

Practical Steps: 

• Review how your current documentation process works.
• Adopt AI tools like SOAPsuds and guide your staff on use.
• Track results to see how much time is saved and how accurate notes become.

AI allows doctors to give more attention to patients while reducing paperwork load.

The Current Burden of Clinical Documentation

Documentation now takes up a significant part of a doctor’s daily schedule, placing heavy pressure on them and cutting into patient time. This has clear effects on time use, doctor health, and care delivery.

Time Commitment on Records

Across specialties, doctors spend several hours every day updating and completing records. This eats into the time they could spend listening to and treating patients.

Effect on Doctor Well-Being

The ongoing pressure to manage a large amount of paperwork adds to stress and burnout. Long sessions of charting lead to tiredness and lower job satisfaction. These issues show the urgent need for improved ways to handle medical documentation.

Effect on Patient Experience

When doctors are overloaded with paperwork, patient care suffers. Many physicians feel hurried in visits, struggling to manage both medical and administrative duties. This not only lowers care quality but also raises the chance of mistakes. Solutions are needed to help shift focus back to patients.

AI Assistance in Clinical Documentation

AI tools help make documentation easier, giving doctors more time for care. Features such as voice recognition and structured note generation improve speed and accuracy.

Voice Recognition: Changes speech into text, enabling quick, hands-free recording.

Structured Notes: Arranges data into consistent clinical records that are simple to use.

For instance, SOAPsuds AI Scribe converts voice recordings into accurate, organized clinical notes, minimizing manual work.

4 Ways to Drop Clinical Documentation Time

Reclaim time from paperwork with these four simple steps.

Review Your Process

Examine how you currently complete records. Track:

• Time spent typing notes
• Hours spent checking or editing them
• Minutes used sorting patient data

A one-week trial with a tracking app will show where time is wasted and how AI can help.

Set Up AI Tools

Getting started with SOAPsuds is straightforward:

Initial Setup

Install the SOAPsuds mobile app and link it to your EHR.

Team Training

Offer a short session on recording voice, structuring notes, and checking accuracy.

Workflow Integration

Use SOAPsuds in regular follow-up visits to smooth patient interactions.

Track Outcomes

Once your team is set up, monitor over the next month:

• Weekly time spent on documentation
• Notes completed on the same day
• Accuracy and completeness

Review this data and adjust use as needed. With steady use, SOAPsuds can save hours each week while improving record quality.

Final Thoughts

Today’s doctors face heavy documentation demands, hurting both their well-being and the standard of care. Reducing this load is essential.

AI tools like SOAPsuds offer a direct way forward. They cut the hours spent on record-keeping while keeping notes clear and accurate. With SOAPsuds, doctors can spend more time where it counts — with their patients.

The steps are simple: review your process, adopt AI tools, and measure the outcome. At $149 a month for individual plans, SOAPsuds AI Medical Scribe delivers meaningful time savings and proves to be a practical investment.