Survey: MDs find EHRs promising and frustrating
EHR adoption has been steadily increasing over the past few years but physicians see the systems as a source of both promise and frustration, according to a report from RAND Health.
Physicians see EHRs as good in concept but feel that they "significantly worsened" their professional satisfaction, according to the report.
Conducted at the request of the American Medical Association, the report focused on determining the factors that lead to physician fulfillment. EHRs enable physicians to improve quality of care and remotely access medical information, but they also present the following frustrations:
- Time-consuming data entry that could be better accomplished by clerks and scribes;
- Difficult to use;
- Interferance with patient face-to-face interaction;
- Lack of interoperability; and
- Degradation of clinical documentation
The report recommends that "better EHR usability should be an industry priority and a precondition for EHR certification."
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.