In a 2026 survey of 778 rehab therapy clinicians, documentation topped the list of daily drains by a wide margin. Here are the 7 things clinicians named most, and what the data shows about who feels each one most.
Ask a rehab therapy clinician what wears them down, and the answer is rarely the patients. In our 2026 survey of 778 clinicians, the most draining parts of the day were the tasks stacked around care, not the care itself. Documentation led by a wide margin, and the workday did not end when the last patient left. Here are the 7 things clinicians named, ranked by how often they came up.
1. Documentation and charting, 75%. The clear winner. Nothing else came close. 3 out of 4 clinicians named it, more than double the next item on the list. Unlike most items named in the survey, documentation is cited almost as often by clinicians planning to stay at their practice as by those planning to leave. It's not a dividing line between happy and unhappy clinicians. It's a universal drain.
2. Back-to-back patients with no breaks, 56%. More than half of clinicians pointed to a schedule with no room to reset between patients. This one does divide clinicians: It's named by 72% of those who say they're unlikely to be at their current practice in 2 years, versus 50% of those who plan to stay. Of the 7 draining things, it's the item most closely tied to whether someone is already halfway out the door.
3. Insurance and billing admin, 45%. Nearly half named the paperwork that surrounds getting paid, not the work of treating patients. One clinician put it plainly: "I would highly recommend the field if the admin, insurance, and billing burden was decreased."
4. Emotional weight of patient care, 34%. The one item on this list that is related to patient care, not admin. It belongs here because clinicians named it themselves, and it's worth naming honestly rather than folding it into "documentation" or skipping it. Unlike the admin-heavy items, this one doesn't track with leaving. Clinicians who feel it are about as likely to stay as to go.
5. Scheduling conflicts, 20%. 1 in 5 clinicians named the friction of a calendar that doesn't hold together, and it's named more often by clinicians who plan to leave their practice (28%) than by those who plan to stay (17%).
6. Care coordination, 13%. Chasing down referrals, updates, and other providers took a real, if smaller, share of the day. "The most infuriating part of the job is when I'm trying to coordinate with a PCP and can't get a hold of them or can't get records," one clinician wrote.
7. Lack of autonomy over clinical decisions, 7%. The least common answer, but still worth tracking: Some clinicians feel the treatment plan isn't fully theirs to shape. It's also the item most concentrated among clinicians thinking about leaving, cited more than twice as often by that group as by those planning to stay.
Documentation doesn't clock out with clinicians. 78% take it home at least once a week, and 38% do it 3 or more days a week. For a large share of clinicians, the most draining task of the day is also the one most likely to follow them into the evening.
Clinicians who rate their AI tools favorably, a 4 or 5 out of 5, document after hours 3 or more nights a week 33% of the time, compared to 58% among clinicians who rate their tools poorly, a 1 or 2. On the other end, 21% of clinicians with favorable ratings never chart after hours, versus 16% of those with unfavorable ratings. Clinicians who are very satisfied with their AI tools are twice as likely to limit after-hours documentation to 1-2 nights a week (61% vs. 30% of those who are very dissatisfied).
Very dissatisfied: 30% document after hours 1-2 nights a week, 70% document 3+ nights a week
Dissatisfied: 32% 1-2 nights a week, 68% 3+ nights a week
Neutral: 42% 1-2 nights a week, 58% 3+ nights a week
Satisfied: 57% 1-2 nights a week, 43% 3+ nights a week
Very satisfied: 61% 1-2 nights a week, 39% 3+ nights a week
Providing care isn’t the problem. The work around the care is what drains people, and that's a fixable problem.
"More admin time needs to be added to the work week for managers who are still expected to carry a full caseload."
Which artificial intelligence (AI) tool a clinician uses matters, too, not simply whether or not they use one. Weigh your AI options (and EMR software) wisely. Adopting AI isn't the goal. Adopting AI clinicians actually rate highly is where the after-hours relief comes from. Practices that give clinicians real breaks, lighten the admin load, protect after-hours time, and choose tools their teams genuinely rate well are addressing the actual source of the strain, not a symptom of it.
Read the 2026 Clinician Experience Report →
38% of clinicians complete documentation outside work hours 3 or more days a week, and 78% do it at least once a week.
Documentation and charting, named by 75% of clinicians, well ahead of any other factor.
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