Reclaiming the Joy of Medicine: How to Reduce Documentation to 1 Hour a Day

For many physicians, the first task of the day isn't seeing the sickest patient—it's heading straight to the computer screen. Dr. Mike Massoud, hospitalist and founder of Around Notes, has developed a system to break that cycle and reduce documentation to roughly one hour per day, even on high-census rounding days.

Who This Is For

This approach is built for hospitalists and internal medicine physicians who carry full lists, juggle consults and admissions, and still want mental bandwidth left for patients—and for life outside the hospital. The payoff isn't just speed: it's efficiency, preserved cognitive energy, and a more sustainable work-life balance.

The Trap of "Saving the Best for Last"

The biggest documentation mistake is saving notes for the end of the day, when cognitive load is maxed out. Mike recalls how a colleague would save the hardest note for last—only to regret it every time. By then, clinical nuance has faded, the chart feels heavier, and the EMR wins another hour of your evening.

The fix isn't working harder at midnight. It's changing when and how you document.

Batch, Draft, Done

Instead of one marathon note session, Mike uses a "Batch, Draft, Done" approach across the shift:

Pre-round: Invest Up Front

That first hour isn't wasted screen time—it's intentional batching. You know who is sick, what changed overnight, and what you need to address at the bedside. Rounding becomes clinical work again, not detective work squeezed between clicks.

Real-time drafting: Capture Thinking, Not Templates

A few sentences per patient—assessment threads, plan pivots, family conversations—are enough. You're not writing the final note in the hallway; you're leaving breadcrumbs your future self (and Around Notes) can expand into a full H&P or progress note later.

After lunch: Finalize with Around Notes

When the list is seen and the hard decisions are made, Mike feeds those drafts and chart context into Around Notes. The platform turns scaffolds into complete notes—structured, consistent, and ready to transfer back to the EMR—without re-living every encounter from scratch.

Hyper-Customization: The "Caveman" Style

One of the most powerful features of Around Notes is its ability to follow a physician's unique style. Mike personally uses a "Caveman" template for straightforward, punctuated notes.

"It's super punctuated... absolute caveman, but it's good documentation."

That might sound informal—but it matches how many hospitalists actually think on busy services. The goal isn't literary prose; it's clear, defensible documentation without note bloat. EMRs were built for billing, not for physicians. Custom templates let you keep the signal and drop the filler.

What You Get Back

By shifting the clerical burden to AI, physicians can reclaim their afternoons. The note still reflects your judgment; the platform handles the mechanical expansion, formatting, and consistency checks that used to eat the back half of the day.

"I actually enjoy rounding again because I can spend time with patients and I don't have to worry about finishing documentation."

That's the point: documentation should support care, not compete with it. When daily charting fits into roughly an hour of focused work—batched pre-round, drafted in real time, finalized with AI—you get room to think, teach, and leave on time.

Try Around Notes free →