Improving physician wellness through electronic health record education

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics
• Physician Wellness

Background:

• Physician burnout is a significant issue, particularly among Family Medicine specialists.
• Electronic Health Records (EHRs) contribute to physician burnout due to time spent on documentation.
• Improved EHR education may enhance job satisfaction and reduce burnout.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of enhanced electronic health record (EHR) training on the wellness of Family Medicine residents.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of targeted EHR educational interventions in improving resident efficiency and reducing burnout.

Main Methods:

• A 5-month intervention involving weekly 15-minute educational sessions and one-hour individualized EHR training meetings.
• Evaluation using pre- and post-intervention wellness surveys and objective EHR efficiency metrics (keystrokes, mouse clicks, accelerator use, time per encounter, encounter closure rate).

Main Results:

• Resident surveys indicated increased knowledge and intention to use EHR accelerators, though not statistically significant.
• Objective efficiency metrics generally worsened post-intervention, but most changes were not statistically significant.
• Residents reported subjective improvements in efficiency, and wellness surveys showed a decrease in burnout.

Conclusions:

• Pilot data suggests that enhanced EHR training may improve perceived efficiency and resident wellness.
• While statistical significance was limited, findings are suggestive of a positive impact of EHR education on physician well-being.