Should Nurses Spend Up to 40% of Their Time on Documentation? What Would You Do With More Time Back?

The Documentation Burden

Research reveals the extent of this administrative challenge:

• Nurses spend 26-41% of their time on documentation during a 12-hour shift¹

• Physicians spend nearly two additional hours on EHR tasks for every hour with patients²

• Up to 49% of a physician's office day is consumed by EHR work, while only 27% involves direct patient interaction²

• Many physicians hire medical scribes at personal expense to manage this burden³

This administrative overload fundamentally alters healthcare delivery with significant consequences.

The Hidden Costs

When clinicians are trapped behind screens instead of at bedsides:

• Care quality suffers: Less patient time means fewer opportunities to observe and provide personalized care⁴

• Burnout increases: Documentation burden remains a primary driver of healthcare professional burnout⁵

• Financial inefficiency: Documentation time represents inefficient labor allocation⁶

• Patient satisfaction declines: Patients notice when providers are distracted by documentation⁷

As one nurse stated: "I became a nurse to care for patients, not their charts."

What Would You Do With More Time?

Healthcare professionals told us they would:

• Spend more time educating patients about conditions and medications

• Provide emotional support to patients who need it

• Mentor new nurses and improve unit-wide practices

• Think deeply about complex cases

• Increase patient encounters each day

A Better Way Forward

At Conduit, we believe documentation should serve care, not compete with it. Our AI Note and Care Plan Assistants give healthcare professionals what they need most: time back for patient care.

Summarize multi-lingual voice memos and patient encounters instantly, and sync with your EHR. By intelligently automating documentation processes while maintaining accuracy, Conduit's solutions allow nurses and physicians to focus on what truly matters—their patients.

Ready to transform your organization's approach to documentation and reclaim valuable time for care? Contact Conduit today.

Sources:

1. American Journal of Nursing: "How Much Time Do Nurses Have for Patients? A Longitudinal Study" (2021)

2. Annals of Internal Medicine: "Allocation of Physician Time in Ambulatory Practice" (2017)

3. JAMA Internal Medicine: "Association of Medical Scribes in Primary Care With Physician Workflow and Patient Experience" (2018)

4. BMJ Quality & Safety: "Association between patient-centered medical home rating and operating cost at federally funded health centers" (2019)

5. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: "Executive Leadership and Physician Well-being" (2020)

6. Health Affairs: "The Economics Of Health Information Technology In Medication Management" (2018)

7. Journal of General Internal Medicine: "Electronic Health Record Use and Patient-Centered Care" (2019)