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The study sought to provide physicians, informaticians, and institutional policymakers with an introductory tutorial about the history of medical documentation, sources of clinician burnout, and opportunities to improve electronic health records (EHRs). We now have unprecedented opportunities in health care, with the promise of new cures, improved equity, greater sensitivity to social and behavioral determinants of health, and data-driven precision medicine all on the horizon. EHRs have succeeded in making [...]

Electronic health records (EHR) use is often considered a significant contributor to clinician burnout. Informatics researchers often measure clinical workload using EHR-derived audit logs and use it for quantifying the contribution of EHR use to clinician burnout. However, translating clinician workload measured using EHR-based audit logs into a meaningful burnout metric requires an alignment with the conceptual and theoretical principles of burnout. In this perspective, we describe a systems-oriented conceptual [...]

Clinicians face competing pressures of being clinically productive while using imperfect electronic health record (EHR) systems and maximizing face-to-face time with patients. EHR use is increasingly associated with clinician burnout and underscores the need for interventions to improve clinicians' experiences. With an aim of addressing this need, we share evidence-based informatics approaches, pragmatic next steps, and future research directions to improve 3 of the highest contributors to EHR burden: (1) [...]

Health information technology is a major source of clinician burnout due to increased administrative burden and inefficient work processes. Electronic consultations (eConsults) represent a promising innovation to improve access to specialty care by reducing wait times for specialist visits and reducing unnecessary in-person specialist visits. While eConsults have clear benefits for patients and healthcare systems, their potential effects on provider burnout should be considered. Using a framework which outlines that [...]

In 2017, 43.9% of US physicians reported symptoms of burnout. Poor electronic health record (EHR) usability and time-consuming data entry contribute to burnout. However, less is known about how modifiable dimensions of EHR use relate to burnout and how these associations vary by medical specialty. Using the KLAS Arch Collaborative's large-scale nationwide physician (MD/DO) data, we used ordinal logistic regression to analyze associations between self-reported burnout and after-hours charting and [...]

Patient-generated health data (PGHD), such as patient-reported outcomes and mobile health data, have been increasingly used to improve health care delivery and outcomes. Integrating PGHD into electronic health records (EHRs) further expands the capacities to monitor patients' health status without requiring office visits or hospitalizations. By reviewing and discussing PGHD with patients remotely, clinicians could address the clinical issues efficiently outside of clinical settings. However, EHR-integrated PGHD may create a [...]

Few studies examine physicians' use of different features of health information technology (HIT) in relation to their psychological empowerment and stress, especially in China, where many hospitals are being pushed to share digitized medical information. Further, there are mixed findings about the impact of HIT on stress, with some studies suggesting that HIT increases stress and others suggesting no effect. Hence, there is a need for a nuanced view of [...]

Stress and burnout due to electronic health record (EHR) technology has become a focus for burnout intervention. The aim of this study is to systematically review the relationship between EHR use and provider burnout.

Clinicians often attribute much of their burnout experience to use of the electronic health record, the adoption of which was greatly accelerated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009. That same year, AMIA's Policy Meeting focused on possible unintended consequences associated with rapid implementation of electronic health records, generating 17 potential consequences and 15 recommendations to address them. At the 2020 annual meeting of [...]