Laura O'Byrne x Heidi at a glance
"If I'm there frantically trying to take notes, it doesn't work." — Laura O'Byrne, Women's Health Physiotherapist and Co-owner, Physio Therapy Singapore Collective
Key outcomes:
- Real-time notes during hour-long women's health sessions, with no typing breaking eye contact during sensitive conversations
- End-of-day reconstruction gone, no more piecing complex sessions back together from memory
- Passing mentions caught and filed, surgical history Laura might have missed mid-conversation now lands in past medical history
- One workflow across clinic and home visits, the mobile app keeping documentation moving wherever she is
- Headspace for memos and patient updates, communications previously deprioritised because of time pressure
Read on if you might also be experiencing:
- Long, sensitive sessions where stopping to type breaks the therapeutic connection
- Specialty work where active listening is the clinical method, not a soft skill on the side
- Reconstructing complex conversations from memory after hours, second-guessing whether you got the detail right
- Documentation that piles up at the end of the day because it's the last task you want to do
Background
Laura O'Byrne is a physiotherapist specialising in women’s health. Together with her partner, she runs a busy clinic offering women’s health physiotherapy, musculoskeletal care, lymphatics, scar therapy and more. With long, in-depth appointments and a strong focus on active listening, Laura’s work depends on trust, nuance and clinical precision.
Challenges
Running a growing clinic while delivering deeply personal, hour-long consultations means the administrative load is significant. Between clinic hours and home visits, Laura is balancing patient care with WhatsApps, emails, operations and compliance.
Notes that disrupted connection
“If I'm there frantically trying to take notes, it doesn't work.”
In women’s health, conversations often touch on deeply sensitive topics - pain during sex, urinary or fecal incontinence, surgical history. Laura prides herself on active listening; not just hearing what patients say, but noticing what they’re not saying. Stopping to type mid-conversation broke that connection.
The mental load of remembering everything
“When I'm not doing that [typing] then I'm trying to remember afterwards. I'm like, what was it that they said then, and how did I get around, and did I put that correctly?”
When Laura chose to stay fully present, the documentation burden didn’t disappear, it simply moved to the end of the day. Trying to reconstruct complex conversations from memory created stress, second-guessing and extra time after hours.
Admin that piled up and felt overwhelming
“It becomes a real administrative labor, which means I really don't want to do it, then it gets piled up, and then trying to do it all in one go… I loathe it.”
Delays meant critical decisions about medications, side effects, or care plans were not visible to nurses or other clinicians at the time they were caring for the patient. Teams were often working without full context.
Persistent after-hours burden
“Very rarely in the old system could I get everything done.”
As a clinic co-owner juggling home visits and operational responsibilities, documentation wasn’t just time-consuming, it was draining. Notes are legally required, but they were becoming the “pain in the butt” task that lingered at the end of already full days.
For years, Laura assumed the only solution would be recording sessions and hiring someone to transcribe them. Then she discovered Heidi.
Solution
“Oh my god, where have you been all my life?”
Laura came across Heidi and began using it during consultations, both in-clinic and on home visits. Once she realised there was a mobile app, it became even more seamless to integrate into her workflow.
“Heidi has been so fantastic because it's just there, going through everything.”
Now, Heidi captures her consultations in real time while she stays fully present with her patients. After each session, she reviews, tweaks where needed and copies the note into her system - often in minutes.
“I am a definite convert. I absolutely love it.”
Laura’s top 3 favourite features
- Real-time note capture during long consultations: with appointments often lasting over an hour, Heidi filters out unnecessary chatter and captures clinically relevant details.
- Customisable templates: even casually mentioned surgical history now gets added to past medical history - without Laura interrupting the flow.
- Built-in task and referral generation: moving between locations is no longer a documentation risk - notes are captured wherever she is.
She’s now introducing Heidi to the rest of her clinicians and encouraging them to sign up for the trial.
“It's a game changer. It really is.”
Impact
“You save so much time.”
Since implementing Heidi, Laura has seen both qualitative and practical improvements in her daily work.
Key outcomes:
- Saves significant time on documentation after each appointment
- No longer stays back reconstructing notes from memory
- Reduced mental load between home visits
- Greater clinical confidence that important details aren’t missed
- Increased willingness to complete additional patient communications (like memos and updates) because it’s now easy
Deeper patient connection without distraction
By removing the need to type mid-session, Laura can stay fully engaged.
“If I'm there frantically trying to take notes, it doesn't work.”
Now, her attention stays where it belongs — on the patient in front of her.
Confidence that nothing gets missed
Heidi captures relevant clinical details, even those casually mentioned.
“I love that it picks up stuff where they kind of casually mention, you know, oh yeah, well, I had this operation back then.”
Laura described how surgical history mentioned in passing is now automatically captured, strengthening the accuracy of her documentation and reducing second-guessing later.
Admin no longer piling up
Instead of dreading end-of-day notes:
“Copy paste. Copy paste. Copy paste. Happy days. Done. Amazing.”
What used to feel overwhelming is now streamlined and manageable - even on busy days filled with home visits and operational demands.
An unexpected benefit: renewed energy
“Honestly, it's just great.”
Because documentation feels lighter, Laura is now exploring other features like memos to doctors and patient updates - something she previously avoided simply due to time pressure.
What’s Next
With Heidi handling documentation in the background, Laura is freed up to focus on what she does best: listening deeply, treating holistically and running her clinic with confidence. She’s rolling Heidi out to the rest of her clinicians and is eagerly anticipating new features that may support follow-ups and admin even further.
And if Heidi disappeared?
“I'd cry. I'd be so sad and depressed. Oh, don't take Heidi from me.”
For Laura, Heidi isn’t just a documentation tool - it’s peace of mind.
