How to Get Even Better at Charting, The Necessary Evil

Why do you think it's such a nemesis for us?

One is I did not become a PT to sit at a computer. Welcome to the Clinician Life Podcast. I'm Emma Jack and I'm joined by my co host, Darrell Yeardley. And together we're on a mission to help you elevate your practice to new heights. Join us each week as we bring you invaluable insights from some of the world's leading clinicians. From staying ahead of industry trends to crafting your dream career and life. We've got you covered. Get set to unlock your full potential. Here we go.

Emma. Welcome back to another Tuesday.

We made it.

Yeah. And I realized it was so. We are. Our episodes have now come out again and I was like, oh, so great. I was like, I realized that we're a little bit behind because we're like, oh, the holidays were so great.

I'm like, oh, well now this one will probably come out sometime in April too. So we're just going to continue to be a little bit.

That's right.

Talking about the future.

Yeah, it's better late than never. And two, everyone kept asking us like when's the next episode coming out? So I thought that must be a good thing.

That's. I, I like to hear that. It's like we have an audience and people are listening. So thank you for listening and for coming back.

Yeah. And today we're going to talk about something that's like our favorite topic in the and well, not let's, let's, let's not let's cut the shit. We hate it too.

I think it's everyone's love to hate like there is a sort of camaraderie. I think we all have. All healthcare professionals have around charting and are despised of it.

Yeah. And what do you, what do you think it is though? Like I, I'm like the worst charter now versus even when I was full time in practice. But what do you. Why do you think it's such a nemesis for us?

I think there's a few things this is. I can only speak for myself but one is I did not become a PT to sit at a, a computer and write. Like I truly avoided any science kids out there probably are the same. I avoided English and like essay writing or like any sort of writing like the plague. And I think it just sitting down and being at a computer it feels really monotonous and I feel like there are definitely obviously of course there's times where it's valuable to me but it also feels like A bit of a waste of time on task. I feel like if I was just talking to me and like, giving myself notes to remember for the next appointment, it would look very different than sort of the standard that is necessary for a complete chart. So I feel like a lot of the time I'm kind of spending more energy than maybe what I. I specifically need in order to do my job. That makes sense.

Yeah, totally, totally. And I think it's. There's also sort of that kind of the. The fear on top of it too, when somebody scares you into doing something like, oh, if you don't follow the regulatory guidelines, like, this is going to happen to you. And you're like, so it's like, it's almost like it's not even really seen as like creating, you know, documentation in order to, you know, create a future plan for patient abs. Right, right. Or so there is, you know, documentation so somebody could actually transfer care and someone could understand.

Right?

Yes, right. The. The interesting thing too that I think what we can chat about though is, is why. Why have we not solved our charting dilemmas? Like, you know, and I'll. And I'll kind of share my experience piece too on that is I would much rather. And I think everybody knows this. Like, I will, if I have time, I'll end up chatting with the patient. Right. And I'll be like, I'll just document. Yeah, right. So I. To interact and create connection. I don't think of using that time, even though I could. Right. I truly could. Like, I have no. I have no hesitation to chart with the patient in the room. I really don't. Right.

Yeah.

But I choose not to do it. Like it to me, it's an actual choice. It's not like subconsciously I just forget to do it.

Well, I think really naturally we play to our strengths and if like chatting and interacting with people. I think most people who get into this field have an element of sociability to them. And that's part of the reason we like our jobs is interacting and creating relationships. And yeah, we're going to choose to do what we like more every time. And that's why I think charting also goes to like, the bottom of the list. Remember I posted one time about like, you know, like looking at Air Canada flights going on Lululemon, checking my email. Like, there's so many other things that I would put or. Or preferentially do instead of charting. I think it's very easy that we can. And there's so many ways these days that we can Distract ourselves from doing the task, whether it be continuing to chat with a patient or, you know, opening up tab online, checking your phone. There's so many other things that feel in the moment easier to do, and sometimes it's just straight up willpower.

Yeah. So here, let me, let me ask you this from, I guess, let's just say our early days of being clinicians. I'm not a proponent to go back to paper charity, so I just want to throw that out there. I'm, I'm not, I'm not trying to, you know, identify that we should go backwards. But when you were charting early on, what distractions did you have versus now?

Like, I really, Yeah, I feel like paper charting in a way was more efficient, and I do think I felt better being more brief. And I don't know why that is. But I, I, I will say that I think if I look back at distractions early on in my career, it was my colleagues and my co workers. Right. We would get. You would, yes, it was much more social and you sort of did your charts in the communal staff room. And so many clinics nowadays don't even have communal staff rooms anymore. Right. That you just sort of have your treatment room with a desk and, and so in theory. Right. That keeps you more on task. But I think if we're left alone with the Internet, you know, I, I don't feel like I was able to so easily find other distractions back then. And for some reason, it did feel easier to document as I went throughout treatment. Whereas now when I turn my attention to my computer, I just find, I'll mention it to people if it's okay. I'm just gonna, like, take a few notes as we chat. Like, I'll mention it because it feels a little bit more rude than like, staring somebody in the eye while, like, writing things down. And pen to paper.

Yeah. I remember, like, back in our paper trotting days, like, we used to be like, hey, we ran out of like, line paper, like, and I remember our.

It had to end.

Yeah. And then like, I remember my boss at one point being like, can't you write in a straight line? I was like, no, because I'm still looking at the patient like, as I was documenting. Right. Yeah, but what you're, what you sort of identified too is do you remember, like, we used to have a rule that you couldn't write treatment as above more than like three times in a row. Right. And then you write a note. But one of the things that I find now, and even if I Didn't finish my assessment, let's say, to, like, what, like, how comprehensive I really want it. It was on a different form. Right, right. Really kicked into my treatment because I usually knew after initial consult, like, what my treatment is going to be, because a lot of times it's actually quite simple to start. Right.

Yeah.

And one of the things now, though, is, like, when I think about a lot of my charting and the efficiencies have been built around, like, repeating notes, and you just edit the note. If you don't start really, really well, you don't have a good note to repeat.

Right.

So I actually find that's one of my biggest challenges, is that if I don't have it written, like, I want to get started, then it just replicates not really a great documented note. And then I stole on it. So I'm like, oh, I'm gonna hold off on writing my first note because I got to finish this part first. Which never once had that debate when I was doing paper charts.

You know what? That's interesting too. Just as you were saying that, I'm thinking about how often, you know, you would reference that initial assessment form, right. And look at sort of, you know, the measurements. And. And now that I think about it, you know, in emr, that new assessment can get really lost. If you've seen somebody, you know, 10, 12 times, you're scrolling back and you can't. I mean, I guess you could open a new window. I just clearly haven't. I don't necessarily have that initial. I'm not going back to that initial assessment as often as I would if it was on paper.

Yeah, no, I agree. And then that's sort of why we still have these debates on, like, creating, like, a proper plan of care. And like, darl, why do you still have it as a written paper plan? Patients leave with. I'm like, because I reference that thing so often, I don't. I don't really pull up my initial assessment, as you said, Evan, be like, hey, Emma, look at where we started. Look where we are now. And I'm, like, kind of doing that anyway all the way through, but it actually is hard to go all the way back, even though technically you could just do a PDF print and like.

Yeah, there, like, are solutions to it, but it does. There is more barrier to doing those things, I think, versus And I think.

If we kind of get into that, like, we just go into a flow. Right. We've all actually changed a bit of our workflow. So I. I had posted this morning, it Was interesting. There was a guy that had a cool meme that I had to share. Like when I share something, I'm like, that was really good. And it's usually. And it was this gentleman that sort of is sitting at his desk and he had his phone out like this and he's like, you know, just sitting down to do some charts. And you said too, like, if I had charts to do at the end of the day in the past, it was probably just get a tea or a coffee and then just head down, get going. Right? And I get through charts sometimes on like end of day Friday and hammer them out and I'd be like done in a half an hour.

Like, I'm so good, feels so good.

Like, I don't know, college can probably listen. But it was like sometimes, right? Yeah. And. But now like I didn't have a distraction other than like shooting the shit with the colleague. Or maybe I'd spend some time with my office admin, right? Because she was great. But I. I didn't have a computer ever open. Yeah, my phone was a flip phone and I never texted anything because I had to push the button.

She couldn't do much.

And it was. It wasn't really until back my PT health days and I got my first BlackBerry that I started to become not tolerant of charting anymore, intolerant of chart. Look at being inefficient. Because I would always be like texting, dealing with something else. And then everything went to online and I probably have like 27 tabs open as we speak.

Oh my God. Don't tell me this.

I know I don't show you that.

Screen that stresses me out.

I know that's. Even now, like, even today, like there was a whole thing like Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok were down, right? Like, oh, they're back on yet. Like, I can't even tell you how that.

Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, it's those little attention grabs or even if our divided attention that makes completing a task so much less efficient than it could be. And that's something. I think it's really important. My hack that I do is I. This may sound weird, but don't knock it till you try it. I set up my phone and I set a timer. Usually, I'm not gonna lie, it's about 20 minutes. Cause I don't wanna spend more than 20 minutes doing it. And then I set my phone to video and I set it up to film me. And I don't know why that holds me accountable. But just Knowing if I go and grab my phone, it's gonna be caught on video. It's like my phone is occupied. It's like my phone is occupied. Right. It's videoing me. And so it does keep me on task from not, you know, just very unconsciously grabbing it and opening Instagram or doing something else. And I. And having the timer is something where I just try and beat the timer. Like, I try and get it done before the timer rings. And oftentimes if I.

Sorry, you gamify it. Like, do you reward?

I mean, I don't. I don't give my. I mean, I just kind of have internal pride, I suppose, but I don't give myself a treat or anything. But I know if I didn't do that, I'd. I'd find so many other things to do. I also think we're doing it at the end of our days when we are tired and our, you know, willpower is a lot lower. And so I think we do have to set ourselves up knowing that. And. And what are the ways we can sort of trick our brains into, like, remaining focused on task?

Yeah. And you know what's great, too? I can count on one hand how many times I actually brought charts home when we were on paper charts. Now it's so easy. Like, I'll just do it all.

Yeah. It's almost too easy not to.

And. Yeah, and what you're saying is so true, because I'll bring something home because I'll be like, oh, I've got a million things to do. I gotta go. And then I get the call on, like, Tuesday morning to say, hey, where's the note for the patient you just sent me? And I'm like, oh, shit. And I can get it done in five minutes. But it literally took me 72 hours. And I wrote nothing on a piece of paper.

And, like, no matter what, there's like, a little part of knowing you haven't done that task that stays in the back of your brain like, that. You can't close the tab on that patient until you've done the chart. Right. You have to.

You're.

You're trying to keep the information. You know, it's a task left undone. And so I think it's like the weight. Sometimes these things, you know, we give tasks so much attention and energy when they go undone, and it never takes as much time or energy to actually do it.

Yeah. And I think for everybody to know, too, and we're not going to sit too much. We'll probably talk about this A little bit further. But, like, it's important that you close that file with a little lock. I know in Jane there's a lock.

Yes.

Right. And in the EMR we use too, like, there's a lock. And if you don't lock that file to the insurance company, that file is not done.

Yeah.

When people look for, like, fraud and audits and all those unfortunate things, they actually mean something. The question would be is, you know, what do we have to write in that file for it to be acceptable? We'll talk about that maybe at the end with some of our hacks. But am I going to ask you this question? Do you actually have. When you're on your computer, do you have all your notifications off?

Absolutely. I have no notifications on anything. I'm not even on my phone.

So for everybody, that. And here's the one thing, and I truly believe two things are a driver of. Of a lot of overwhelm in clinical practice, especially private practice, is one, the complexity of patients. So we had those previous sessions and documentation. And for everybody, including myself, that literally has slack goes off probably 40 times when I'm in clinic. And I know for sure that I got 27 messages from the WhatsApp hockey parent group on Friday. And it was cool because we're ready for like, two big games. Right. I documented more in the WhatsApp group to the hockey parents than I did that entire day in a chart. Yeah. Because I was like, just do that. I'll get up early Saturday and I'll do it then. Yeah.

There's a reason these companies, like, they literally have behavioral psychologists working for them of how to keep you on the apps and like, those little red dots, our human behavior, when we see a red dot, we're attracted to it, we want to see it. But just because somebody's texting you or there's a new email, like somebody else's urgency is not your emergency. And so it's so important to, you know, let yourself be in the task that you're in and then switch, like, because you'll actually have. You will give more thoughtful responses, better responses if you're fully in a task versus half doing both.

Right.

And so, yeah, I'm on do not disturb. Like, good luck. Anybody trying to call me, because I do not disturb all the time. Because I think it's really important that we check those things on our own time and we're not being sort of at the mercy of everyone trying to get our attention.

Yeah. And especially too, you make a good, like, suggestion on that too, because, like, especially now with social media and just the, you know, how strong of, like, networks we actually have with people. Like, it's not like I'm only talking to people in Ontario anymore. Like. Like, people are messaging me in every time zone in North America.

You know, the Internet is open 24 7.

Yeah. So it's. It's actually really, really interesting. But to put it into perspective, but even I think for, like, I know I could actually improve my documentation without any changes moving forward if I turned everything off. And I love that if I just set myself a timer and probably I'd have to do one of two things. Either penalize myself if I don't get it done on time.

Yeah.

Threaten to be like, you have to take your kids out for dinner because they, like. And it drives me nuts when, like, we have food in our fridge. We should just Right that food. Or I could reward myself. One of the two. Yeah, right.

Yeah. I think those little hacks are so important to, like. Like, it's. It's, to me, not unlike the little red dot. Right. It's a. It's a behavior trick to get yourself to do what you know is best.

Yeah. Because if you think about documentation in Physio Cairo, it's actually not hard. It's just, oh, I don't want to do it. Right. Yeah. Right. And the question is, how do I become efficient? And we were. We were on a webinar recently, and I actually asked some of, like, some of these owners that run the call are brilliant. And some of the clinicians call, like, I know them. They're excellent mentors and educators. And I was like, but how many of us have ever spent time to teach people, like, how and what to document? Not to say that I'm the most efficient at it, but I still have some good experience. I'm what to document to protect myself, to be able to interact with other professionals, to make sure there's a clear plan for that patient. Patient could understand the file if they actually wanted to read it.

Y.

It was a consistent. We've never done that.

And it is something that, like, I think is assumed you get on placements like you get experience with. But I don't remember. I mean, it's. You can't really talk about the theory of charting, but not actually put it into practice. So I think it's so dependent on, you know, your placements and what you were told by preceptors and maybe feedback from a supervisor, you know, or performance review. But yeah, I think everybody gets in their own groove. Like, I definitely also, like, I think everybody has like a charting style to them and it's definitely something that, you know, is good to talk about and, and jam out on because I think we can all improve.

Yes. And I think that's the thing, right? Like, it's, it's an actual, it should be a safe space to say, like, we all don't like this, right? So how do we meet regulatory standard, right? How do we satisfy insurance companies who can delist us at any point in time and do it efficiently? Right. It's sort of that efficiency and effectiveness at the same time. But the, the one, the one component though, when we were actually having this conversation is like, like, why don't we do that? I think what's really cool. And you said this on placement, if I think back to every student I took, I always wrote time management, right? Say, like, oh, yeah, documentation took you too long, but trust me, you're gonna get better.

I was only gonna get worse.

Yeah, I was like, I totally set up every student I had for like failure. I was like, I should have just said, look, time management is. You just gotta think all the time and ask people, how do I get even better at this? Right?

You know what, that's, it's interesting you say that because I actually said that to a clinician yesterday. You know, we were talking about charting and, and I said to her, how often are you actually finishing your appointments on time? She has a 15 minute buffer between clients to chart so that she gets the chart done before moving on. I do the same thing. I have 15 minutes between clients. Again, it's. If you don't have. We're both solo operations, so, you know, it's a little bit different than your traditional clinic. But she said, you're right. Oftentimes I probably go over by five to seven minutes and by the time they've left, I know I gotta, you know, clean the room and get everything sorted. And then, you know, why start the chart for two minutes and not just bring in the next person? So I think it's also, you know, that time management of like actually finishing on time, actually using your breaks not to scroll social media, but to get half your charts done. The time management piece is important.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other thing, when I go back to looking at placements, I don't ever think I really, really looked at someone's chart per se. It was always more about M. Okay, let's look at your case. Like, okay, what were the three hypotheses? How are they doing? Like right be like. So it was more like clinically reasoned reasoning that I did. And they would always want feedback on like their handling or on their exercise prescription. Like I don't think I've ever sat down with this like a, with a PT student and said let's actually look at how you do your soap now.

Right.

And maybe I'm like oh my God, there's like 27 exercises here. What the hell?

And I think potentially the only opportunity you are going to take the time to do that is when you get audited. Right. Which is not necessarily when you want the first time to be. But you know, that's part of it is a self chart review at least in Ontario. Um, and you know we should, that should maybe just be a thing that we do yearly so that when it's time to do a chart review we actually know what is required and necessary.

Yeah, yeah. Like, and I think it's trying to understand too. Like when we. When I look at files and my team knows that I'm. I tell them this all the time and I'll. They'll ask me like hey Darrell, can you look at this case for me? I'm like sure. And, and then I look at. It's like it's electronical medical record, which means that it's. And they're. And they're doing sort of the, like they're writing a good note that for sure say. And then they'll replicate the note, they'll edit the note. But then I still look at. And the soap note goes from like January 1st and it's still all the same subjective notes on top of each other until we get to like March 8th. When I'm in, I'm just like. But, but if I want to know the subjective from a couple days ago, I could just go into that note from a couple days like still exist. So when I look at a file I'm like this note before I can even find out what's actually I'm supposed to do for treatment today plan, I'm like, I'm actually scrolling with my mouse and I'm like why are we writing that much? Like it doesn't make any sense. Right. And then of course with a lot of the insurance challenges that we're seeing out west especially, I don't quite know what the goals are because we just have a minutia of information there because we also kind of overused a feature. I just repeat, repeat, repeat when everybody. My treatment as above in the past it was still very Clear what that was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I think in so many ways, like, tech is so helpful and can make things faster and sometimes the newer, shinier thing is not always better. Like there's aspects and features that I think are so helpful and then there's things that, that maybe we should take a bit more pause with.

Yeah. Just to figure out, like how to set it up really, really well. But I think there's also a really important component because I think a lot of people don't quite understand the regulatory standard. And I'll say that about regulatory standards because we sort of inherited practices over time. Right. Or we took from a placement or it's just how the clinic does it. But we all just agreed that we've never really had a great, like, mentorship session or a collaborative think tank session of like, let's just look at how we all chart and then cross reference that to the standard. Because some people, they're meeting standard, but they're not even close. Or on the alternate they're doing something like they're about to write a legal document for every single patient that's going to court. Which. Right. Less than 1% of my cases have ever gone to court.

Exactly.

So I don't know why we write a note like everyone's going to court. Just follow the standard.

Yeah, yeah. It, it's, it's not a, it's certainly not a clear cut, easy, easy thing to answer. But we do know it's absolutely mandatory and we all need to do it anyway.

Yeah. Not to scare the. Out of people because I don't think. But there is a consortium of sorts or a task force or something, and there's some of the largest insurance carriers in the. They all formed a task force and they're using AI now to audit for fraudulent. So again, the question is, is what are they auditing? What's flagging it.

Right.

Et cetera. But it kind of goes back to. And Emma, you know, my position is I don't care if you're an independent contractor or employee, whatever you can call yourself, whatever it is. But if you are a regulated healthcare professional or you're working under the supervision one, you have a standard. I don't care what your working relationship is with that clinic. You, you need to do your charts.

Yeah.

With my own slap on the wrist too, because I have to learn to close my files. And sometimes I don't even do it intentionally. I just didn't know to click the button. Right. Right. But these are, these are the things that AI and audits don't give a about. Like, if that chart wasn't done, it. That patient didn't come that day. And if I. Yeah, look at an invoice that you sent me to me, that's fraud. Now, everyone that listens to our call or like our podcast, I know doesn't need fraudulent stuff, but unfortunately, there's bad apples out there that do fraudulently. Right. And I was just on calls with people today that were asked to do fraudulent things, and I was like, no, you cannot do that. I just needed somebody to confirm that. But I think one of the things that we have to get people to kind of come across is don't. Don't let yourself just accept the fact that charting will always be overwhelming. Like, we've already identified. For me in this therapy session here, what I need to do to do to get better at my charting, which is turn off all your goddamn notification for, like, 30 minutes.

It's a great start.

Yeah. So that would be a good start. I'm already gonna improve that. My efficiency. Yeah. And you could actually say that, you know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but you actually could. You could actually text me during a particular time, and if I respond, then, you know, I'm. I didn't follow your.

Yeah, I think there's lots you can do, I think, with any task, you know, I think you do. Sometimes there's things in life we have to do that we don't always love, but it's part of the process. And I think there's ways you can make it more enjoyable. It doesn't have to be the best thing ever, but I think there's one ways you can make it feel more delightful or something you look forward to. You know, I have a playlist on Spotify. That's my charting playlist. It's all, like, very early 2000s pop hits that you'll never hear on the radio anymore. But it makes me just. It, like, changes the mood. I go from, you know, my playlist that I have in clinic all day, and then I have, like, my own playlist when it's just me. I think, you know, having yummy food or, like, chocolate is helpful. Lighting a candle, like, there's. Again, maybe in certain clinics, that's not allowed, but, you know, thinking about how you can make it a bit more of an enjoyable experience, think about how you can bring more senses into it. I. I really do think you can take something that feels like, oh, why do I have to do this? And. And how can you just make it more fun. How can you add some levity to it? And, and if you have a colleague make it a competition. If you both finish at seven, be like, hey, we're gonna hold each other accountable. Let's knock these out. I think the other thing to seriously consider too, just in some conversations I've had, is to remember that if you're taking on an eight hour patient care shift, you have to know that there's more to that day than just eight hours of patient care. And so really look at your schedule and how you're booking yourself. Because an eight hour patient care day, you're probably going to show up half an hour early, maybe your commute's 15 minutes. Like we've already added 45 minutes there. You're going to have to save 45 minutes or, you know, somewhat after. So really look at what you're expecting yourself to do, patient care wise in a day. And are you accounting for all the extra stuff we have to do on top of that?

Yeah. And that's the challenge on the private sector, right. Like there is a lot of things that go in. Like I have to, I think this is the part that annoys me a little bit. Like there is an advocacy role that we play, right. It's a competency. So part of working with some insurance companies, right. Or filling out forms or working with a motor vehicle company or chatting with a lawyer, like that's about advocating for this patient or writing physician notes, right. Because I need, I can't even tell you how many cases reviewed, where they're like, this patient needs some imaging. How do I request this? Well, that's an advocacy piece, but it also is hard to write it, right. Because you have to know how to navigate primary care. But I do think one of the things that's created a bit of a bad rep or pulls people out of private practice is because the standard's not the same in the hospital. Right. That was one of the things that I worked on with my team when I was there. They were great. They actually started to change their practice ways. Right. It wasn't anymore that you could start your day an hour later of seeing patients and end your day an hour earlier so you could document because it doesn't happen. Right. And that's where everybody was like, oh, I'm not built for private practice, I gotta go find a hospital job. But it's not intended to actually be. Well, if I work an 8 every day, I only have to see 6 hours of patient care minus my lunch. So really 5. Like you couldn't do that in private practice. We didn't have enough. That's in private practice. And I had also realized too, there's probably a reason why a lot of physio departments are getting abolished in the hospital.

Right? Yeah. I mean, I totally understand the, you know, the private practice trade off. If you're sitting documenting, you're not quote unquote getting paid necessarily if you're an independent contractor, depending on the model that you're working in. But understand that the hours you are paid, what's included in that is the expectation that you are doing this documentation.

That's right. Yeah. And you're right. And the key thing too, though, I know what you're like, what you've been. But how do you become efficient, concise with it, meet standard and just be done right? And I think we're in a world now though, where. Because we all dislike it. Right? Without a doubt. And when you dislike something, you're always. It's the last thing on your list. But I think you nailed it. I think you have to gamify it. I really do.

Yeah.

Love that. Like, I'm even thinking now, it's like, okay, I should. Next on like Friday, I should make a rule that if we get out at the same time or if I beat you, then you buy me a beer. And if I beat you, yes, there you go. Like, because I'll probably still come home at the same time regardless, because I'm still documented. But I. I think you're right. There's. It's. It's a necessary kind of. I don't know, is it right to say this like it's a necessary evil? So you just have to.

I was going to say that.

So, yeah, you don't like it. Right. Yeah. And I think this is now where your advice, though before, about how we learn like something new came out from an autom perspective through an emr and we have to learn maybe how best to use it. Right. Like repeated. And I think this is where I'm really thinking, where does AI come from? Because I already had three messages today about AI. I literally get AI sponsored ads, like steady, right. Is how and when to best use it. Right. Like dictation came up before. No physios really used it because it didn't. It wasn't like primary care practice. Right. With using, et cetera. Right. Yeah.

You know what's interesting? I am like currently beta testing Jane's some of Jane's AI features. And what I've realized, which I think is great, is the quality you get from AI is only as good as the input. Right? And that's the same with ChatGPT and everything like that. So if I do a really thorough, really good initial assessment note, it will give me a summary that then I can copy and paste and that can become a doctor's note of, hey, I saw so and so on this day, here's what I assessed. Here were my pertinent findings, here's our goals, here's what we're doing. It will summarize that for me, but it's only going to be as good as what I've put in my note. And so I think it will, you know, some of those quote unquote shortcuts will be really, really valuable, but it doesn't mean you don't have to put really good input in to begin with. And so I think it will hold people to account a little bit more. And the other thing I, I think, you know, some of the templates we have for documentation, oftentimes people sort of set it and forget it. And I think there's a lot, a lot you can do to customize your templates to make it not only up to college standards in a very easy way, but also your own workflow. What, you know, checkboxes that you want or rating skills that you're going to ask about. Like, I think including those things in the chart note will cue you to ask those things and document it in real time. So I would really encourage people to go back to some of their templates and see what they could be doing a little bit different in order to make it more efficient, because it's always easier to do a tick box than it is to write a sentence. So, you know, if there's certain things that are appropriate for quick, easy answers, I think making sure that you're revisiting those maybe every six months so that they are what you specifically as a therapist need.

Yeah, that's a good, really good point too, because I think people always ask, like, in the day, like, why would you always take the lead in developing, like, assessment forms and, you know, treatment form? And I was like, because I built it in my workflow. But it amazed me, actually, how many people don't ask if they could, like, alter that template or could they?

Oh, my gosh. And like, there's thousands of different ways you can do it. You know, some people love a body chart, some people hate a body chart. Like, there's so many different ways. And I, you know, I personally can only speak to Jane, but You know, just because your colleague has their chart one way, like there's literally like tens of thousands of different templates or you can just make your own. So like try different ones out, see what works, see what makes it more efficient.

Yeah.

And especially for niched people, like if you're treating concussion or something like that, you can make your life so much easier by building a custom template.

Yeah. Like, and I look to like when I was doing and I still have it, like if I still do a full out one of my hip consults versus a spine consult, like those forms are different.

Yeah.

If I'm bring practice, I don't even look at a form because I don't know. Right. But I think the, the part that's really cool though is, is to be able to test in beta testing. Like I, I did a, a couple tests recently for AI too and it was actually incredible. And I even, you know, I swear a little bit sometimes. So guy was like, test this. And I was like, what can I say? He's like, swear, like say the, say the. Drop an F bomb. I was like, give me permission. Dropped an F bomb. It did not go in the actual clinical note.

Oh my gosh, that's cool.

I was like, you gotta be me.

And even I thought didn't get there. Yeah.

But it was, but the problem was, is as I was exploring it, sometimes a challenge in a physio practice too is it's loud. Right?

Yeah.

So that was actually the reason I couldn't move it forward because when I'm in clinic I don't, I'm not actually in a private room because I'm working with team so I actually couldn't use that technology yet. And he's. Oh, it's just because we're still playing with like different like microphones etc. Etc. But right. The noise and usually because I'm yipping across the space because it's somebody that I see or so it would actually really not be appropriate where I would still probably just hire a scribe to follow me around.

Like sometimes that does feel like a more sustainable option and I think it.

Comes down like as you said too earlier, like you may not be allowed to that in clinical practice. But if I was to think about what would save me time, which is still more important to me than money.

Yeah.

Because usually I could probably generate more, make more money if I just use my time better. Right. So it would actually be just having a scribe. I, I honestly would. Now the question is, is can I get an AI scribe that's the part I'd be able to see.

Yeah, I think it's coming. I don't understand how, but I think it's coming. And it's probably not as far away as no we think it is.

So I think this is what we really like, what people should really start to do as this world is about to ex, like, come upon us. Right. And I think Mike Landry said this at one of his physio association conferences and he's. It wasn't really about how technology or AI or VR is going to replace us. It was just his messaging was, you're going to get left behind. Right. And I think for us is the reason we were chatting about this today too is like, we both don't like it and I don't think anyone ever gets really good at it. So the question is, how do we collaborate, figure out a good workflow, try to remove our distractions to actually have a good base to start with, and then figure out how AI is going to continue to make that potentially more efficient. But if you have a shitty base to start with or a shitty foundation like I do, there's so many, like, holes in my foundation or leaks in my foundation right now. You gotta, you gotta clear out the weeping tile.

We gotta, we gotta close those tabs, Darrel.

Yeah, I'm telling you, right? You don't even want to know. I got like 27 tabs and multiple Gmails that are open right now. G Suites is very.

Just in case. Just in case you were gonna miss an email coming through.

Yeah, and I'm actually. I miss emails all the time. It's like Slack, so it, like, doesn't even help.

It doesn't even help. Here's the thing. If you don't check, like, I try very hard to only check my email twice a day. And the reason I do that is because when I was checking it too frequently, I would see the email, I would read it, but then tell myself I didn't have time to respond. But then it would be in my red folder and five days later, G Suite would be like, hey, are you going to respond to this person? And I would be like, oh, my gosh. So checking it less often is actually more efficient, I promise you, because you'll go in and say, okay, the next 20 minutes I'm going to respond to that. My emails you'll go through. They're all dealt with. And then. But when we're constantly attending to text messages, emails, like, it always elicits a response back, right? It's very Rare that you would text somebody back and then there wouldn't be another message ever again. So it's almost like you're asking for more work to come in by responding.

So, like, it's a. Yeah, you ever star email still. And then I literally, like, pull up my starters. I'm like, oh, I didn't respond to any of those. But they were important.

We're going to build efficiency, I promise. You start with the notifications.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to start to gamify. I'm going to start. I love that the notifications for sure. And I like the gamification because I know that it would actually be fun for, like, the staff too.

There is something to like wanting to beat the time. And truly, as much as it sounds so weird to videotape yourself if you don't have colleagues around, like, I am a solo clinician, so I have nobody watching me. I could do whatever it is. That little extra bit of accountability, I just delete it after. But it does help. Or if anybody has other ideas that they want to share, like, send us a dm, don't send Daryl an email.

But yeah, send it a dm, Let.

Us know, because I'm sure we could crowdsource. Lots of good options.

Yeah. So just the last thing, too. What's I. Well, what. Let's do one. Fun. So is the video like, like looking at you or is it down? Yeah.

Oh, no, it's looking at me. It's like, really on, like, time lapse of a workflow?

Yeah, yeah. Tripod or just like, usually.

Yeah, usually I have a desktop computer, so I usually just put it up against my desktop computer and let it.

All right. So. All right, that's. That's the tip.

That's so weird. But it works.

How do people find your. Your playlist?

So if you go to Spotify and you look at the profile, it's press play physio on Spotify. I have a clinic playlist which is like 100% clean. But, like, a lot of the songs are, like, motivational and kind of like, we're getting stronger. I have an accounting playlist for those solopreneurs who, like, are not doing their own bookkeeping on a regular basis. Friday morning is like my accounting time. So I have an accounting playlist. It's all about, like, money and being a boss. I have a commuting playlist. So if you commute, it's like pump up jams for, like, getting ready for your day and then. Yeah, my charting playlist. My charting Playlist may only feel really good for people who were born in, like, the late 80s, but I encourage you to, like, make your own playlist too. So, like, it's music that you like and it's something that's just like switching up your energy. Because if your energy is. I don't want to do this. That's how it's going to feel. And it doesn't have to.

And did you. Do you frequently add to those playlists?

All the time, yeah, all the time. If I hear a good song, I'm like, oh, yeah, that goes.

Where's the new Beyonce song? Which. Where is that?

Texas hold' Em is currently. Okay. This is like exposing my whole process. Texas Hold' Em is currently in my liked songs. I haven't put it in.

You don't know where to put it yet?

I don't know where. I think it probably would be a good commuter.

Okay. Yeah, I think so too, because the problem will be then I'll get a bit distracted because I'll start. Right.

I'll certain you dance. You're dancing along. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. You probably won't see me dance, but yeah. All right. So there's. They got lots of hacks. Right. And I hope all the hacks we sort of validated for anybody that feels like I'm just not a good charter. Don't worry neither. We.

None of us are.

We're encouraging you all to improve on your efficiencies. And I feel like Emma gave me a good counseling session today on how I need to become a better documenter. But I did pass my college audit very well.

Flying colors.

I was allowed to choose my chart.

Brilliant. Brilliant.

And on that note, this is fun. I like, like freestyle ones. These are good.

You know what we came into today being like, we don't know what we're going to talk about, but my gosh, we can just jam out on any topic.

That's right.

I think is also a very charged topic for lots of people.

Yeah. I feel like we could have had like a whole like IG live on this one and we could have had some really good, like, banter back and forth.

Totally. Yeah.

All right. And just so people don't you. We're going to start to bring on some individuals from the AI side of things to really help us explore where these opportunities are. Because I do think this is one way that's going to help us on that documentation efficiency. But obviously too, as we know that the regulators are also paying attention to this because let's just make sure we did all really well.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

And on that note, Texas hold them. I'm going to be watching to where that one goes.

Sounds good.

All right.

See ya.

Have a good one. And that's all for today. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode and joining us on this journey to get smarter in business and life by learning from the top clinicians in the world. Make sure to connect with me on Instagram, Errol Yardley, and be sure to follow my co host, Emma, at Pressplay Physio to stay connected. And also Visit us@clinicianlife.com for more resources, articles and opportunities to participate in the show. We'd love to have you on to share your expertise and insights with our growing audience. Can't wait to see you next week.