Primary Care Physician Gender and Electronic Health Record Workload.

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Physician Workflow Analysis
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Existing research suggests female physicians dedicate more time to electronic health record (EHR) tasks compared to male physicians.
• Understanding gender-based disparities in EHR usage is crucial for addressing physician workload and potential burnout.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate gender-based differences in EHR usage patterns among primary care physicians (PCPs).
• To identify underlying factors contributing to observed gender disparities in EHR time allocation.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective analysis of EHR usage data was conducted for 125 primary care physicians within an academic hospital system.
• Key metrics included time spent on EHR tasks, volume of staff messages, and patient messages, adjusted for panel size and appointment volume.

Main Results:

• Female PCPs spent significantly more time on EHR tasks, including 20% more time in the EHR in-basket and 22% more time on notes, compared to male PCPs.
• Female PCPs received 24% more staff messages and 26% more patient messages, with these differences not attributable to the proportion of female patients in their practice.
• Statistical significance was observed for all reported differences (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Increased requests from both staff and patients contribute to the greater EHR in-basket time for female PCPs.
• These differential EHR burdens represent a potential factor exacerbating burnout rates among female physicians.