Physician Burnout? EHRs Are a Major Contributing Factor Any kind of administrative task could be a stressor for physicians handling a full patient load and often called upon for important processes such as medical chart review. EHR use is a major stressor.
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Any kind of administrative task could be a stressor for physicians handling a full patient load and often called upon for important processes such as medical chart review. The documentation demand brought by the electronic medical record is bearing down on most physicians, ultimately leading to frustration and burnout. This is a serious situation that needs immediate attention and redressal. The medical profession must find ways to adjust to prevent the situation from worsening. What Is Physician Burnout? Niki Buchanan, general manager of Population Health Management at Philips, says in an interview given to nursing.advanceweb.com, “Physician/clinician burnout is the overwhelming exhaustion and dissatisfaction that comes from delivering care in today’s shifting world. Caring for others is already a time-intensive and emotionally strenuous profession, and with an increasing focus on quality and value-based care, there is a higher demand for physicians to report quality metrics and perform administrative tasks. This additional work can unintentionally take time away from the direct patient care that is central to medicine.� An AMA (American Medical Association) study found that for every hour doctors spend with their patients, they spend another 2 hours on the EHR or other administrative desk work. Many EHR systems do not provide a good end user experience, which is a major concern for physicians. Increased dependence on technology brings www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com
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disadvantages in the form of patient dissatisfaction, compromised care and medical errors among others. Rethinking EHR Systems Is the Need of the Day Since the EHR is here to stay, the focus must be on designing EHR systems that are less complex and with the right functionality because only such systems can reduce physician exhaustion and burnout. Among the organizations taking steps to combat physician burnout is the AMA that believes that a major approach to fighting burnout is to create team-based care. They point out that team work can be redesigned so that the data collection and data entry tasks can be assigned to other members of the clinical team. Many organizations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are also evaluating EMR usability.  Clinical workflows can be redesigned towards a valuebased care reimbursement model. When implemented correctly, this will persuade all members of the care team to work at the highest level of their respective license.  Administrative tasks can be assigned to those who know how to identify efficiencies.  A team-based approach ensures that each team member is focused on serving at their personal skill level. www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com
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 This is beneficial in the long term, bringing benefits such as patient satisfaction, improved patient outcomes, and physician satisfaction. Healthcare systems could also consider using AI or artificial intelligence to improve workflow efficiencies and data visualization. When data analytics technology that converges individual platforms into a single view is used efficiently, physicians can concentrate on providing more focused patient care. The Burnout Experience Varies across Specialties According to a 2017 State of Family Medicine Study, 63% of family physicians experience provider burnout compared to 54% of all physicians. An InCrowd survey identified EHR technology as the second most frequent contributor to physician burnout. 57% of primary care physicians and emergency medicine physicians have felt a sense of provider burnout because of increased EHR use. Around three-quarters of the providers feel that their practice is not attempting to help reduce and prevent provider burnout. Any medical chart review company assisting physicians knows how overworked physicians are and how they struggle to balance their diverse responsibilities. Healthcare systems, policymakers, technology vendors must all work collaboratively www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com
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to determine the best EHR systems and other health technologies. The effort must be towards ensuring that physicians have access to a single, actionable, linear patient record at the point of care. Only this can give providers the assurance that there are no gaps in the medical chart such as unknown risk factors or medication management among others. EHR systems should be interoperable, and the digital technology available today must be leveraged to improve both the provider and patient experience.
www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com
918-221-7791