While the causes of physician burnout (and clinician burnout more generally) are multifactorial, inefficient electronic medical records (EHRs) and their associated disrupted workflows consistently top the list of the main drivers of physician burnout.  Atul Gawande wrote an eloquent piece on the subject entitled, Why doctors Hate Their Computers, in which Dr. Gawande notes “I’ve come to feel that a system that promised to increase my mastery over my work has, instead, increased my work’s mastery over me.”

There are EHR optimization pearls your organization can take.

But there are practical EHR optimization pearls any organization can take to reduce administrivia driven burnout. Last week, I co-authored a paper for the Joint Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) – Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Task Force on Physician Burnout in partnership with the Reliant Medical Group: Changing the EHR from a Liability to an Asset to Reduce Physician Burnout. 

This paper includes more than a dozen electronic health record (EHR) optimization techniques organizations can take today to improve the usability of the EHR as well as its associated workflows, in order to reduce unnecessary administrative burden for physicians and other clinicians.

Our message is that there are many interventions compassionate leaders can take today to help mitigate the drivers of clinician burnout.  We would be happy to hear what has worked for you.