Documentation is one of the biggest time drains in physiotherapy practice. Studies show that therapists spend up to 35% of their working day on paperwork rather than patient care. With AI-powered documentation tools, practices are reclaiming this time.
The Documentation Burden in Physiotherapy
Every treatment session requires detailed notes: subjective complaints, objective findings, assessment, and plan. Multiply this by 15-25 patients per day, and therapists face hours of documentation after their last patient leaves.
Common pain points include:
- Writing the same phrases repeatedly across similar treatments
- Staying late to catch up on notes from the day
- Inconsistent documentation quality when rushing between patients
- Risk of missing billable details due to recall gaps
How Ambient AI Recording Works
Modern AI documentation tools like Helia use ambient recording during treatment sessions. Here's the workflow:
1. Start a secure recording at the beginning of the session
2. Focus entirely on your patient during treatment
3. The AI captures clinically relevant details from the conversation
4. A structured SOAP note is generated within seconds
5. Review, edit if needed, and copy into your practice system
The key difference from dictation is that you don't need to narrate your actions. The AI understands therapy context and extracts the relevant clinical information automatically.
Real Time Savings: A Breakdown
Let's look at where the 40 minutes come from:
- Manual SOAP note writing: 5-8 minutes per patient, reduced to under 1 minute for review
- Template filling: eliminated entirely with AI-generated structured notes
- End-of-day catch-up: eliminated when notes are completed during the day
- Abbreviation consistency: the AI uses your preferred abbreviations (ABD, ADD, Ex, Flex) automatically
For a therapist seeing 20 patients per day, saving just 2 minutes per note adds up to 40 minutes. Most practices report even higher savings once the AI learns their documentation preferences.
Getting Started Without Disrupting Your Workflow
The beauty of AI documentation is that it fits into your existing workflow rather than replacing it. You can start by using it for a few patients per day and gradually expand. There's no need to change your practice management system since you simply copy the generated notes with one click.
Most therapists report feeling comfortable with the technology within their first week, and the time savings become noticeable from day one.