PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

Analyses of electronic health records utilization in a large community hospital.

  • Gautam Verma,
  • Alexander Ivanov,
  • Francis Benn,
  • Anil Rathi,
  • Nathaniel Tran,
  • Ashwad Afzal,
  • Parag Mehta,
  • John F Heitner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233004
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 7
p. e0233004

Abstract

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IntroductionThe Electronic Health Record (EHR) has become an integral component of healthcare delivery. Survey based studies have estimated that physicians spend 4-6 hours of their workday devoted to EHR. Our study was designed to use computer software to objectively obtain time spent on EHR.MethodsWe recorded EHR time for 248 physiciansover 2 time intervals. EHR active use was defined as more than 15 keystrokes, or 3 mouse clicks, or 1700 "mouse miles" per minute. We recorded total time and % of work hours spent on EHR, and differences in those based on seniority. Physicians reported duty hours using a standardized toolkit.ResultsPhysicians spent 3.8 (±2) hours on EHR daily, which accounted for 37% (±17%), 41% (±14%), and 45% (±12%) of their day for all clinicians, residents, and interns, respectively. With the progression of training, there was a reduction in EHR time (all p values ConclusionsPhysicians spend close to 40% of their work day on EHR, with interns spending the most time. There is a significant reduction in time spent on EHR with training and greater experience, although the overall amount of time spent on EHR remained high.