Charting takes up an enormous share of clinical time. AI can not eliminate that burden entirely, but it can take a significant portion of it off your plate, specifically the mechanical work of translating your clinical thinking into structured note language. The key is using it correctly: AI as the writer, you as the reviewer.
Tools like Doximity Ask are HIPAA-compliant, which means you can include clinical context in your prompts. Your EHR remains the system of record. AI helps you get the words on the page faster. Progress Notes and H&P
The most time-consuming part of a progress note is not knowing what happened , it is converting what happened into structured, billable language. That is exactly what AI does well.
Give AI your bullet points and tell it what structure you need. A well-crafted prompt will return a note ready to copy into your EHR, with ICD-10 codes embedded and diagnoses ordered by clinical acuity for RVU optimization.
Copy this prompt: Progress note, Internal Medicine: I am an internist using Epic EHR. Write a problem-based A&P progress note for a 67yo male with T2DM (A1c 9.1), hypertension, and new-onset lower extremity edema. Order diagnoses by complexity. Embed ICD-10 codes. Include relevant quality measures. Format for direct copy-paste into Epic. |
The same prompt structure works in Doximity Ask: paste your bullet points from the visit, specify your EHR and note format, and get back a structured draft in seconds. Consult Notes
Consult notes have their own structure requirements that vary by specialty and EHR. The shortcut is to name both in your prompt. "ID consult for Epic" produces a very different output than a generic note request.
The anatomy of a strong consult prompt has four parts: name your EHR, state the specialty and note type, specify whether you want narrative or bullet format for each section, and list the data sources you have available (labs, imaging, prior notes).
Copy this prompt: Consult note, Infectious Disease (Epic): I am an infectious disease physician using Epic. Write a consult note for a 54yo female admitted for bacteremia. HPI in narrative paragraph. Assessment and plan in bulleted format by problem. Include antibiogram-guided recommendations. Format sections to match Epic's consult note template. |
Discharge Summaries
Discharge summaries are among the most time-consuming documents in inpatient medicine, especially for complex patients with multi-week stays. AI handles the synthesis work particularly well here.
The most efficient workflow: paste your admission bullets and daily note summaries into the prompt and ask AI to weave them into a coherent hospital course narrative. Every discharge summary needs four things: the admission diagnosis, key events during the hospital course, the follow-up plan, and the discharge condition.
Copy this prompt: Discharge summary, Emergency Medicine: Write a discharge summary for a patient admitted for COPD exacerbation. Admission diagnosis: COPD exacerbation with hypoxia. Hospital course: treated with IV steroids, nebulizers, and supplemental oxygen. Discharged on oral prednisone taper and updated inhalers. Follow-up with PCP in 5 days. Discharge condition: stable, improved. Format per Epic discharge summary template sections. |
TIP Ask AI to format the output in your EHR's required discharge summary template sections. For Epic users, this means specifying the section headers (Hospital Course, Discharge Condition, Discharge Medications, Follow-Up Instructions) explicitly in your prompt. |
SmartPhrases and Dot Phrases
SmartPhrases (Epic), QuickText (Oracle Health EHR (formerly Cerner)), Macros (Athena), and Text Libraries (Meditech) are all versions of the same thing: reusable text shortcuts that fire when you type a trigger phrase in a note. Doximity Ask can write the entire SmartPhrase for you. You just load it into your EHR. Copy this prompt: SmartPhrase for a common diagnosis, Family NP: Create an Epic SmartPhrase for allergic rhinoconjunctivitis patient education. Include: diagnosis explanation, medication instructions for intranasal steroid and antihistamine, avoidance strategies, return precautions. Format for direct load into Epic SmartPhrase Manager. Keep under 300 words. |
Once AI generates the SmartPhrase text, loading it into Epic takes about 60 seconds: open SmartPhrase Manager from the Tools menu, click New, paste the AI-generated text, give it a short trigger name (such as .RHINOCONJINSTR), save, and test it in any note.
KEY Copy-forward is a billing and legal liability. Use AI to produce original language for each note rather than pulling forward yesterday's assessment unchanged. A prompt like "Rewrite the A&P using different clinical language and highlight today's specific changes" takes seconds and significantly improves defensibility. |
