Clinician EHR struggles compromise patient care, study shows
Physicians struggle with cumbersome and complex third-party solutions within electronic health record systems, negatively impacting patient care and leading to a higher risk of burnout, according to a study by Insiteflow.
WHY IT MATTERS
The research, conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Insiteflow (check it out here), surveyed 250 physicians and shed light on the myriad challenges they encounter when attempting to integrate third-party solutions into their EHRs.
An overwhelming 94% of respondents said the lack of easy-to-use insights negatively impacts patient care, resulting in several harmful consequences.
These include delayed initiation of treatment (53%), prolonged hospital stay (52%) and incorrect treatment plans (47%).
Despite the recognition of the value of external insights – roughly three-quarters of physicians say they have adjusted diagnosis or treatment plans based on third-party solutions – the main challenge lies in the ease and speed with which these insights can be obtained and used .
More than eight in ten (82%) of respondents reported that it is difficult to leverage external opportunities for improvement within their EHR.
Many physicians resort to disparate methods, such as leaving their EHRs and logging into separate sites, to access external sources of insight.
The consequences are sobering in their magnitude and severity: 98% of physicians admitted to missing opportunities for improved patient care, potentially saving lives and securing timely reimbursement.
More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents say the complexity of obtaining and applying patient-specific insights from various external sources contributes to feelings of fatigue and burnout.
Physicians, who often have to deal with six to twenty (or more) external solutions, cited several reasons for not using these insights effectively.
These include the time-consuming nature of opening them (43%), the lack of user-friendliness (39%), the overall difficulty (27%) and even forgetfulness (31%).
Typical workflows include logging into external websites, navigating drop-down menus in the EHR, and receiving alerts or alarms within the EHR, resulting in a suboptimal experience for overburdened healthcare professionals.
Insiteflow CEO Anthony Gerardi explains that most physicians spend a lot of time throughout the day recording their observations and decisions in their EHRs, and some even spend time at night.
“Physicians spend an average of an hour on their EHRs every night, also known as pajama time,” he said.
From his perspective, using six to twenty or more solutions combined with disparate and cumbersome workflows not only contributes to physician fatigue and burnout, but also negatively impacts patient outcomes.
He points out that physicians use best-in-class insights while working in their EHRs to improve patient care, but when their workflow experience for using these insights contributes to their burnout and fatigue while negatively impacting on patient outcomes, everyone suffers.
“Physicians are not at their best when they are constantly fatigued,” says Gerardi. We need to make it easier for physicians to use best-in-class insights as they work in their EHRs.”
THE BIG TREND
Previous research has shown that EHRs that provide a suboptimal user experience are more likely to experience alert fatigue and less likely to detect errors that could impact hospital safety.
While a lack of efficiency in using electronic health records is most highly correlated with physician burnout, healthcare organizations want vendors to help them improve EHR experiences, according to the KLAS Arch Collaborative.
Oracle Cerner recently added generative AI to its EHR platforms with Clinical Digital Assistant, a tool that can respond to voice prompts from physicians and aims to reduce mundane work that leads to burnout.
ON THE RECORD
“Imagine if the tools on your computer that you need to do your job were so cumbersome that they caused you to become fatigued, burned out, and have to work extra hours to get your work done,” says Gerardi. “How would this affect the quality of your work?”
Nathan Eddy is a healthcare and technology freelancer based in Berlin.
Email the writer: nathaneddy@gmail.com
Twitter: @dropdeaded209