EMRs Adding To Physician Stress

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Researchers have found that EMRs are impacting physicians’ job satisfaction - and not always positively

Stewart Babbott, M.D, from the University of Kansas Medical Center, and his research team decided to study physician stress associated with electronic medical records. Specifically, the stated objective was to assess “relationships between the number of EMR functions, primary care work conditions, and physician satisfaction, stress, and burnout.”

Their results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Information Association, indicate, “Stress may rise for physicians with a moderate number of EMR functions. Time pressure was associated with poor physician outcomes mainly in the high EMR cluster. Work redesign may address these stressors.”

According to Healthcare Informatics, “The authors looked at 379 primary care physicians and 92 managers at 92 clinics from New York City and the upper Midwest participating in the Minimizing Error, Maximizing Outcome (MEMO) study, 2001-2005 study (which was) designed to assess relationships between the structure and culture of the primary care workplace, physician stress and burnout, and the quality of care experienced by their patients.”

Healthcare Informatics notes the study also found, “Physicians who use electronic medical records (EMRs) with a moderate number of functions are more stressed and have lower job satisfaction than those whose EMRs don’t have that many functions.”

Babbott told Healthcare Informatics, “We found that while job stress decreases modestly for physicians with sophisticated systems compared to physicians with a moderate number of functions, time pressure during examinations and office visits was more highly associated with adverse physician outcomes in the high EMR function group.”

Babbott says this means, “while physicians may be accustomed to EMR, the systems have forced them to balance an increase in tasks with no increases in time allotted.”