Variation in Support for Documentation Among Primary Care Physicians by Gender

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Health Services Research
• Physician Workforce Studies

Background:

• Gender disparities exist in electronic health record (EHR) usage time and physician burnout.
• Staff support for EHR documentation may mitigate negative physician experiences.
• The gender-specific availability of this support in primary care is not well-understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate gender differences in the availability of staff support for EHR documentation among primary care physicians (PCPs).
• To analyze the association between gender and access to documentation support in primary care settings.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing data from the 2018-2019 National Electronic Health Records Survey.
• Descriptive analysis of staff support prevalence.
• Multivariable logistic regression to assess the adjusted relationship between gender and documentation support.

Main Results:

• Among 813 surveyed physicians (representing 296,854 nationally), 92.5% used an EHR.
• Female PCPs were significantly less likely to have staff support for EHR documentation (25.1%) compared to male PCPs (37.3%).

Conclusions:

• Significant gender disparities in EHR documentation support exist within primary care.
• These findings have implications for physician burnout and the overall physician workforce.
• Further research is needed to explore the reasons for and solutions to these gender-based differences.