AI, provider burnout and a better path to healthcare

The increased burden of documents, administrative requests, and administrative documents has become one of the most important contributors to burnout among healthcare providers. In an age where doctors and nurse practitioners spend almost twice as much time on computers as patients, technology has emerged as a tool to reshape the narrative. Specifically, artificial intelligence.

Contrary to some public concerns, AI has not replaced providers. Rather, they empower them by handling boring, repetitive tasks that draw time and energy from patient provider relationships.

AI is increasingly integrated into clinical workflows, helping to create documents, redundant forms and regulatory documents. These are important, but time-consuming tasks that historically kept providers in a few hours later, and are still buried in the charts after the last patient leaves. Similar to how Dictation Software revolutionized medical note-taking over a decade ago, AI is now taking this a step further by integrating structured data, generating draft notes from conversations, generating draft notes from automated filling forms, and proposing relevant code or documentation elements based on clinical content.

Importantly, despite some misconceptions, AI is not used as an alternative to clinical judgment or real-time diagnosis. Medical diagnosis is complex, profound and subtle. A careful understanding of provider-patient interactions, history, context, physical findings, and sometimes intangible cues that can only be assessed by trained experts.

For example, AI cannot detect subtle resting tremors, observe unimpeded pupils, or assess patient voice and tones of influence. These details, although seemingly minor, are often important to shaping an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. Through direct physical examinations and face-to-face assessments, only trained human providers can understand and act on such clinical subtleties.

It is essential to understand that AI is just as effective as the prompts you receive. Like any other tool, its value depends on user intent, expertise and oversight. This strengthens the provider’s role and does not reduce it. Providers guide clinical encounters, develop diagnosis, and design treatment strategies. AI can simply help you clean up the desk, so you can go back to your bedside.

In fact, implementation of AI in the documentation already shows promising results. Providers report reduced chart times, work outside of business hours (commonly referred to as “pajama time”), and a new sense of focus during patient visits. By automating redundant tasks and simplifying form completion, AI is not just increasing efficiency, but is restoring humanity to healthcare interactions.

As the healthcare industry continues to embrace innovation, AI should be viewed as security rather than as an alternative. Digital partners who process documents while our providers are doing their best, listen, heal and care.

Jonathan Woolberton is a board-certified nurse. He lives in the Tampa Bay area.