EHR Workflow Study To Be Conducted In Two NYC ERs
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
A four-year study will evaluate the effect of Meaningful Use on clinician workflow.
The New York Academy of Medicine’s Center for Cognitive Studies in Medicine and Public Health has been awarded a grant by AHRQ to investigate the impact of electronic health records (EHRs) and Meaningful Use (MU) Criteria on the clinical workflow in emergency departments at two New York City hospitals, according to a press release.
The four-year $979,262 grant funds the study that “evaluates the impact of MU on clinician workflow, including information seeking, team interaction, and decision making in the context of clinicians’ use of EHRs” at Mount Sinai Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, in collaboration with Columbia University Biomedical Informatics. The study will utilize three data collection methods, including “clinician shadowing, log-files of EHR use, and sensor-based data collection using RFID technology, a mechanism for tracking movement and interaction patterns of clinicians.”
Dr. Vimla L. Patel, head of the study, explained in the release, “This study promises to bridge science into practice and to influence policy based on the insights drawn from the investigation into clinician work activities. Additionally, given that emergency departments are particularly challenging environments for measuring the impact of MU criteria implementations, we believe that our study will provide a benchmark for further extension into other ambulatory care settings.”
Dr. Patel is Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies in Medicine and Public Health at NYAM and serves as Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
A recent study conducted by AMA and RAND Corp. saw doctors cite EHRs as the leading cause of professional dissatisfaction, emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and lost enthusiasm. In fact, in the wake of the study, the AMA has pressed for EHR design reform to boost usability.
In a statement, AMA President-elect Steven J. Stack, M.D., explained, “Physician experiences documented by the AMA and RAND demonstrate that most electronic health record systems fail to support efficient and effective clinical work. This has resulted in physicians feeling increasingly demoralized by technology that interferes with their ability to provide first-rate medical care to their patients.”
Despite criticism, NYAM asserts in the press release that technologies such as EHRs “can reduce the burden of complexity on clinicians, potentially improving quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare” and further that, given the widespread adoption of EHRs across the medical community, “lessons learned in these complex environments generalize across other clinical and educational settings, advancing NYAM’s mission to improve the health and living conditions of urban populations.”