the health strategist
institute for strategic health transformation
& digital technology
Joaquim Cardoso MSc.
Chief Research and Strategy Officer (CRSO),
Chief Editor and Senior Advisor
November 1, 2023
One page summary
What is the message?
Clinicians are facing significant challenges in integrating third-party solutions into their electronic health record (EHR) systems, leading to fatigue, burnout, and compromising patient care.
A recent study conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Insiteflow highlights the detrimental impact of complex third-party solutions on the healthcare workforce and patient outcomes.
What are the key points?
Negative Impact on Patient Care:
A staggering 94% of surveyed clinicians reported that the lack of user-friendly insights from third-party solutions within their EHRs adversely affected patient care.
This issue leads to a range of harmful consequences, including delayed treatment initiation (53%), prolonged hospital stays (52%), and incorrect treatment plans (47%).
Challenges in Integration:
While clinicians acknowledge the value of external insights, approximately 75% of them have adjusted diagnoses or treatment plans based on third-party solutions.
The primary challenge lies in the difficulty of accessing and utilizing these insights. More than 82% of clinicians reported struggles in harnessing external opportunities for improvement within their EHRs.
Overcoming Barriers:
Clinicians resort to disparate methods, such as leaving their EHR to log into separate sites, to access external insights.
This leads to missed opportunities for enhanced patient care, with 98% of clinicians admitting to such occurrences.
Furthermore, 77% of respondents cited the complexity of accessing and applying patient-specific insights from diverse external sources as a source of fatigue and burnout.
Reasons for Inefficiency:
Clinicians face various challenges in capitalizing on third-party insights effectively. These challenges include
- the time-consuming nature of accessing insights (43%),
- lack of user-friendliness (39%),
- overall difficulty (27%), and
- even forgetfulness (31%).
- The typical workflow involves logging into external websites, navigating EHR drop-down menus, and receiving alerts or alarms within the EHR, resulting in an inefficient experience for healthcare professionals.
Physician Burnout:
Insiteflow CEO Anthony Gerardi emphasized that clinicians often spend significant time recording their observations and decisions in their EHRs, sometimes even during their personal time, referred to as “pajama time.” The use of multiple solutions with complex workflows contributes to clinician fatigue and burnout, negatively impacting patient outcomes.
Statistics
- 94% of clinicians report negative effects on patient care due to the absence of user-friendly insights from third-party solutions within EHRs.
- Consequences of EHR challenges include delayed treatment initiation (53%), prolonged hospital stays (52%), and incorrect treatment plans (47%).
- 82% of clinicians find it difficult to harness external opportunities for improvement within their EHRs.
- 98% of clinicians admit to missing opportunities for enhanced patient care.
- 77% of clinicians believe that accessing and applying patient-specific insights from diverse external sources contributes to feelings of fatigue and burnout.
Examples
- Clinicians often resort to logging into external websites, navigating EHR drop-down menus, and receiving alerts within the EHR, leading to suboptimal experiences.
- Physicians, on average, spend an extra hour every night working in their EHRs, referred to as “pajama time.”
- Oracle Cerner recently introduced generative AI to reduce burnout by responding to conversational voice prompts from clinicians.
Conclusion
The integration of third-party solutions into EHRs has become a significant obstacle for clinicians, affecting their work quality and patient care.
Complex workflows and suboptimal user experiences contribute to fatigue and burnout, ultimately impacting patient outcomes.
Healthcare organizations and EHR vendors must address these issues to improve the well-being of healthcare professionals and enhance the quality of patient care.
DEEP DIVE
This summary was written based on the article “Clinician EHR struggles compromise patient care, study shows”, published by Healthcare IT News and written by Nathan Eddy, on October 31, 2023.
To read the original publication, https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/clinician-ehr-struggles-compromise-patient-care-study-shows
