Imagine a healthcare professional performing a crucial operation and suddenly the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system gets interrupted by a glitch. Instead of simplifying things, it has become more frustrating for caregivers. For many doctors, nurses and other medical personnel, instead of being a technological break-through that was to lessen their burdens, it became an everyday source of stress and frustration.
In reality, many medical professionals feel overwhelmed rather than supported by EHRs. Surveys have found that 40% of physicians are not pleased with their EHR systems while close to 50% of nurses complain that such records worsen their workload without improving care for patients. When healthcare providers spend more time fixing EHR problems than treating the patient; we must ask ourselves how we got here and how we fix this. We delve into the issues faced by healthcare practitioners and propose various ways to mitigate the pressures emanating from EHR systems.
The Burden of EHR Glitches on Healthcare Professionals
According to the Journal of Medical Internet Research survey, almost seventy-five percent of medical staff members experience serious EHR-related problems that result in delayed or interrupted care. As a result, these problems can range from the system freezing during patient entry and long delays while transferring data between departments.
In a tweet, Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, a vocal advocate for bettering EHR systems, expressed this feeling best:
“Annoying: when an easy EHR bug hampers patient transfers. It shouldn’t make me miss my family dinner just to mend it.” — Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio
If it’s just an EHR glitch and not a patient care issue:
— Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA (@DrDiGiorgio) December 29, 2024
We shouldn’t have to get up from dinner with our family.
We shouldn’t have to wake up at 2 a.m.
We’ll do those things for patient care—not to compensate because admin bought an inefficient EHR.
But these irritations are more than mere inconveniences; they are serious matters that may lead to crucial mistakes in patient care. A Joint Commission report of 2018 indicated that errors with EHRs cause nearly 10% of all untoward incidents in healthcare settings. Whether it is miscommunication due to false patient data or late conveyance of vital information such as these errors undermine the credibility of the health sector system.
The Challenge of After-Hours Fixes
One of the most persistent challenges with EHRs is that they require after-hours work to maintain and fix. They are usually required to be present around the clock to address EHR glitches hence leading to burnout. Dr. DiGiorgio posted his dissatisfaction on Twitter:
When neurosurgeons take call, they commit to dropping everything for true emergencies—rushing to the hospital, answering questions, reviewing scans, no matter the hour. It means limited plans, staying local, arranging childcare, and keeping one eye on the phone at all times,…
— Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA (@DrDiGiorgio) December 29, 2024
These glitches, which have no quick fixes, often come at inconvenient times when healthcare professionals find themselves giving up their free time to address complex problems that need troubleshooting during odd hours. According to a recent survey by the American Medical Association (AMA), this has made 58% of doctors work more than 60 hours per week. These added stresses have seen burnout rates progressively rise over the years with significant emotional and physical tolls associated with them.
The Extreme Measure: Would Physicians Give Up EHRs?
A statement by Avery Walker, MD, FACS, FASCRS clearly indicates how many doctors are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs:
Its a great feeling when you just say, nope, not doing that, and nothing happens. If it doesn’t benefit my patient or takes excessive amount of time for me then it’s not happening. People will say, well your checkbox delays their discharge. I respond with, “no, it doesn’t”
— Avery Walker, MD, FACS, FASCRS (@Averywalker21) December 29, 2024
The level of dissatisfaction shown here is indicative of how frustrated doctors have become with these systems. According to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine, 30% would give up part of their salaries just to go back to paper medical records. This has made many healthcare practitioners feel that the choice between efficiency and frustration is no longer feasible.
EHR Improvement Through Interoperability
One of the major challenges facing EHR software is lack of interconnectivity across different systems. Data fragmentation is widespread whereby patient records are stored on different platforms that cannot communicate with each other making it difficult for health care professionals to access complete patient histories.
A study published in 2022 found that interoperable EHRs positively impact patient safety by reducing medication errors and improving data quality. For example, Dr. DiGiorgio pointed out an improved system integration as shown below:
Not dumping on IT at all. We are all stuck in this system not of our own doing.
— Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA (@DrDiGiorgio) December 29, 2024
When electronic health record systems fail to communicate seamlessly, vital information such as lab results, medication lists, or discharge instructions may be delayed or lost. This delay can result in unnecessary readmissions, incorrect treatments, or even worse—patient harm.
Solutions: What Can Be Done?
Improving the design, implementation, and support of EHR systems is key to solving this issue. Here’s what needs to be done:
Enhanced Training: Many EHR issues come about from misuse or lack of familiarity with the system. Hospitals should therefore invest in ongoing training programs that educate all their staff on how to efficiently utilize the program.
System Reliability: Healthcare providers need to work with EHR vendors to build more reliable and dependable systems that don’t crash during critical times. Regularly scheduled maintenance sessions for fixing bugs as well as dedicated support teams can help alleviate the burden.
Interoperability Standards: For EHR systems to communicate with each other smoothly, there is a need for universal interoperability standards that should be adopted on a national scale. This will help reduce fragmentation and enable healthcare providers to have the full patient picture.
Reevaluating the Role of EHRs: In this regard, healthcare organizations must take into account if electronic health records (EHRs) actually improve patient care or they simply complicate it further. The key is streamlining workflows and zeroing in what serves best both patients and healthcare professionals through technology use.
The Bigger Picture: Solutions for the Increasing Burnout of Healthcare Workers
When talking about the burnout experienced by health workers, it is more than heavy physical or emotional work. It is a multifactorial situation with one of the most important causes being the inefficiency of healthcare systems including for example electronic health records or EHRs. The research conducted by the Journal of Primary Care and Community Health (JPC) findings indicates that 63% of doctors display signs of burnout, the most common reason being administrative work such as EHR management.
EHRs have now, unfortunately, become cumbersome tasks instead of being tools that were intended to increase clinicians’ productivity and efficiency. EHR tasks can consume two hours for every one hour of patient appointment causing dissatisfaction, frustration and even pushing clinicians out of the field. The aftershocks are devastating such as increased turnover rates, diminished patient safety, and soaring expenses in the healthcare sector.
If a plan is to be designed to help ease health worker burnout, correcting EHR issues must be the priority. Forms can be simplified, repetitive data entry and documentation can be eliminated, and AI solutions for predictive analytics and computerized data entry integrated to help lessen the burden. Also, when designing EHR, healthcare workers can be involved to ensure that the tools fit the practical environment.
Tackling the EHR puzzle might not completely cure the problem of burnout but it is the beginning of providing healthcare providers with a more manageable and appreciative work environment. Minimizing clerical work makes it possible for practitioners to be practitioners and care for patients.
Reimagining EHRs: A Path to Better Healthcare
The discontent towards using EHR systems by medical practitioners has become overwhelming. Personal well-being as well as patient care are impacted by issues such as system glitches and after-hour maintenance. Although EHRs were introduced with the aim of making healthcare more efficient, today’s reality does not support the promise at all.
It’s obvious that the EHR systems need a lot of reform. Healthcare organizations need to take immediate action by improving system design, ensuring interoperability, or giving better training and support in order to reduce workload on their workers. EHR systems must change so that instead of becoming a hindrance, they can provide healthcare professionals with some power.
“As Dr. DiGiorgio has so eloquently said – ‘If it’s just an EHR glitch and not a patient care issue: We shouldn’t have to get up from dinner with our family. We shouldn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to fix it.”
Healthcare providers deserve a system that works for them, not against them. It is time for EHR systems to transform themselves and make healthcare professionals a priority, yet patients would benefit too in the end.
Last Updated on by Saket Kumar