A work-sampling tool to measure the effect of electronic medical record implementation on health care workers

This article presents baseline work sampling data from an outpatient oncology clinic prior to an electronic medical record implementation. The physicians and medical office assistants spent 29% and 39% of their time, respectively, entering and retrieving information from medical records. The physicians and medical office assistants spent 43% and 17% of their time, respectively, on direct patient contact. Using scheduled outpatient counts to measure the productivity of the physicians and medical office assistants failed to capture 19% and 29% of their workload.