Association of Electronic Health Record Design and Use Factors With Clinician Stress and Burnout.

Importance: Many believe a major cause of the epidemic of clinician burnout is poorly designed electronic health records (EHRs). Objectives: To determine which EHR design and use factors are associated with clinician stress and burnout and to identify other sources that contribute to this problem. Design, Setting, and Participants: This survey study of 282 ambulatory primary care and subspecialty clinicians from 3 institutions measured stress and burnout, opinions on EHR design and use factors, and helpful coping strategies. Linear and logistic regressions were used to estimate associations of work conditions with stress on a continuous scale and burnout as a binary outcome from an ordered categorical scale. The survey was conducted between August 2016 and July 2017, with data analyzed from January 2019 to May 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures: Clinician stress and burnout as measured with validated questions, the EHR design and use factors identified by clinicians as most associated with stress and burnout, and measures of clinician working conditions. Results: Of 640 clinicians, 282 (44.1%) responded. Of these, 241 (85.5%) were physicians, 160 (56.7%) were women, and 193 (68.4%) worked in primary care. The most prevalent concerns about EHR design and use were excessive data entry requirements (245 [86.9%]), long cut-and-pasted notes (212 [75.2%]), inaccessibility of information from multiple institutions (206 [73.1%]), notes geared toward billing (206 [73.1%]), interference with work-life balance (178 [63.1%]), and problems with posture (144 [51.1%]) and pain (134 [47.5%]) attributed to the use of EHRs. Overall, EHR design and use factors accounted for 12.5% of variance in measures of stress and 6.8% of variance in measures of burnout. Work conditions, including EHR use and design factors, accounted for 58.1% of variance in stress; key work conditions were office atmospheres (ß̂ = 1.26; P < .001), control of workload (for optimal control: ß̂ = -7.86; P < .001), and physical symptoms attributed to EHR use (ß̂ = 1.29; P < .001). Work conditions accounted for 36.2% of variance in burnout, where challenges included chaos (adjusted odds ratio, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.10-1.75; P = .006) and physical symptoms perceived to be from EHR use (adjusted odds ratio, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.48-2.74; P < .001). Coping strategies were associated with only 2.4% of the variability in stress and 1.7% of the variability in burnout. Conclusions and Relevance: Although EHR design and use factors are associated with clinician stress and burnout, other challenges, such as chaotic clinic atmospheres and workload control, explain considerably more of the variance in these adverse clinician outcomes.

Protecting healing relationships in the age of electronic health records: report from an international conference.

We present findings of an international conference of diverse participants exploring the influence of electronic health records (EHRs) on the patient-practitioner relationship. Attendees united around a belief in the primacy of this relationship and the importance of undistracted attention. They explored administrative, regulatory, and financial requirements that have guided United States (US) EHR design and challenged patient-care documentation, usability, user satisfaction, interconnectivity, and data sharing. The United States experience was contrasted with those of other nations, many of which have prioritized patient-care documentation rather than billing requirements and experienced high user satisfaction. Conference participants examined educational methods to teach diverse learners effective patient-centered EHR use, including alternative models of care delivery and documentation, and explored novel ways to involve patients as healthcare partners like health-data uploading, chart co-creation, shared practitioner notes, applications, and telehealth. Future best practices must preserve human relationships, while building an effective patient-practitioner (or team)-EHR triad.

The electronic elephant in the room: Physicians and the electronic health record.

OBJECTIVES: Determine the specific aspects of health information and communications technologies (HICT), including electronic health records (EHRs), most associated with physician burnout, and identify effective coping strategies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a qualitative analysis of transcripts from 2 focus groups and a burnout assessment of ambulatory physicians-each at 3 different health care institutions with 3 different EHRs. RESULTS: Of the 41 clinicians, 71% were women, 98% were physicians, and 73% worked in primary care for an average of 11 years. Only 22% indicated sufficient time for documentation. Fifty-six percent noted "a great deal of stress" because of their job. Forty-two percent reported "poor" or "marginal" control over workload. Even though 90% reported EHR proficiency, 56% indicated EHR time at home was "excessive" or "moderately high." Focus group themes included HICT "successes" where all patients' information is accessible from multiple locations. HICT "stressors" included inefficient user interfaces, unpredictable system response times, poor interoperability between systems and excessive data entry. "Adverse outcomes" included ergonomic problems (eg, eye strain and hand, wrist, and back pain) and decreased attractiveness of primary care. Suggested "organizational changes" included EHR training, improved HICT usability, and scribes. "Personal/resilience" strategies focused on self-care (eg, exercise, maintaining work-life boundaries, and positive thinking). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: HICT use, while beneficial in many ways for patients and providers, has also increased the burden of ambulatory practice with personal and professional consequences. HICT and clinic architectural and process redesign are likely necessary to make significant overall improvements.

Worklife and Wellness in Academic General Internal Medicine: Results from a National Survey.

BACKGROUND: General internal medicine (GIM) careers are increasingly viewed as challenging and unsustainable. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess academic GIM worklife and determine remediable predictors of stress and burnout. DESIGN: We conducted an email survey. PARTICIPANTS: Physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in 15 GIM divisions participated. MAIN MEASURES: A ten-item survey queried stress, burnout, and work conditions such as electronic medical record (EMR) challenges. An open-ended question assessed stressors and solutions. Results were categorized into burnout, high stress, high control, chaos, good teamwork, high values alignment, documentation time pressure, and excessive home EMR use. Frequencies were determined for national data, Veterans Affairs (VA) versus civilian populations, and hospitalist versus ambulatory roles. A General Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) evaluated associations with burnout. A formal content analysis was performed for open-ended question responses. KEY RESULTS: Of 1235 clinicians sampled, 579 responded (47 %). High stress was present in 67 %, with 38 % burned out (burnout range 10-56 % by division). Half of respondents had low work control, 60 % reported high documentation time pressure, half described too much home EMR time, and most reported very busy or chaotic workplaces. Two-thirds felt aligned with departmental leaders' values, and three-quarters were satisfied with teamwork. Burnout was associated with high stress, low work control, and low values alignment with leaders (all p < 0.001). The 45 VA faculty had less burnout than civilian counterparts (17 % vs. 40 %, p < 0.05). Hospitalists described better teamwork than ambulatory clinicians and fewer hospitalists noted documentation time pressure (both p < 0.001). Key themes from the qualitative analysis were short visits, insufficient support staff, a Relative Value Unit mentality, documentation time pressure, and undervaluing education. CONCLUSIONS: While GIM divisions overall demonstrate high stress and burnout, division rates vary widely. Sustainability efforts within GIM could focus on visit length, staff support, schedule control, clinic chaos, and EMR stress.

Electronic medical records and physician stress in primary care: results from the MEMO Study.

BACKGROUND: Little has been written about physician stress that may be associated with electronic medical records (EMR). OBJECTIVE: We assessed relationships between the number of EMR functions, primary care work conditions, and physician satisfaction, stress and burnout. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: 379 primary care physicians and 92 managers at 92 clinics from New York City and the upper Midwest participating in the 2001-5 Minimizing Error, Maximizing Outcome (MEMO) Study. A latent class analysis identified clusters of physicians within clinics with low, medium and high EMR functions. MAIN MEASURES: We assessed physician-reported stress, burnout, satisfaction, and intent to leave the practice, and predictors including time pressure during visits. We used a two-level regression model to estimate the mean response for each physician cluster to each outcome, adjusting for physician age, sex, specialty, work hours and years using the EMR. Effect sizes (ES) of these relationships were considered small (0.14), moderate (0.39), and large (0.61). KEY RESULTS: Compared to the low EMR cluster, physicians in the moderate EMR cluster reported more stress (ES 0.35, p=0.03) and lower satisfaction (ES -0.45, p=0.006). Physicians in the high EMR cluster indicated lower satisfaction than low EMR cluster physicians (ES -0.39, p=0.01). Time pressure was associated with significantly more burnout, dissatisfaction and intent to leave only within the high EMR cluster. CONCLUSIONS: Stress may rise for physicians with a moderate number of EMR functions. Time pressure was associated with poor physician outcomes mainly in the high EMR cluster. Work redesign may address these stressors.

The EFECT framework for interprofessional education in the patient centered medical home.

The very nature of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) necessitates new instructional models that prepare learners for the roles they will have to assume in these transformed primary care practices. In this manuscript we describe a new instructional framework that seeks to blend the goals of patient-centered care and inter-professional education, and can be implemented in existing training environments while practice transformation continues to proceed. We propose a 5-step process, the EFECT framework, which is simultaneously a sequence of tasks for effective patient care and a guide for the learners and faculty in teaching and evaluating that care delivery. These steps include: (1) Eliciting a patient-centered narrative, (2) Facilitating an inter-professional team discussion, (3) Evaluating clinical evidence, (4) Creating a shared care plan, and (5) Tracking outcomes. We then report preliminary descriptive outcomes from the first EFECT pilot. Our proposed framework supports learners' abilities to construct a patient-centered narrative from multiple professional perspectives as the basis for developing an evidence-based, integrated care plan between the patient and the inter-professional care team and deliberately following up on outcomes. We present this framework to stimulate a process for creating new curricula and evaluative tools to measure and promote learner functioning in medical home environments.

Can the targeted use of a discharge pharmacist significantly decrease 30-day readmissions?

BACKGROUND: The prevalence and cost of hospital readmissions have gained attention. The ability to identify patients at high risk for hospital readmission has implications for quality and costs of care. Medication errors have been shown to increase the risk for readmission. OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of a pharmacist-based predischarge medication reconciliation and counseling program on 30-day readmission rates and determine whether polypharmacy and problem medications are important screening criteria. METHODS: A prospective, nonrandomized cohort study performed at a single medical-surgical unit with telemetry capability at a single academic medical center. The participants were 729 patients, aged 18 years and older, who were discharged between July 1 and October 29, 2010. The intervention was pharmacist medication reconciliation and counseling based on a screening tool. The primary outcome was 30-day readmission rate. Secondary outcomes were the presence of polypharmacy and problem medications and their relationship with observed 30-day readmission rate, including calculation of a problem med/polypharmacy score. RESULTS: The pharmacy review group (n = 537) had a lower 30-day readmission rate than the group receiving usual care (n = 192) (16.8% vs 26.0%; odds ratio [OR] 0.572; 95% CI, 0.387-0.852; P = .006). Polypharmacy, defined as either 5 or more or 10 or more scheduled medications, alone and in combination with at least one problem medication had higher 30-day readmission rates. A score of no factors present exhibited good negative predictive value. CONCLUSIONS: Medication reconciliation and counseling by a pharmacist reduced the 30-day readmission rate. Polypharmacy and problem medications appear to have value individually and together. A pharmacist, guided by a screening tool in predischarge medication reconciliation, is one option to effectively reduce 30-day readmissions.

Use of a structured template to facilitate practice-based learning and improvement projects.

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires residency programs to meet and demonstrate outcomes across 6 competencies. Measuring residents' competency in practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) is particularly challenging. PURPOSE: We developed an educational tool to meet ACGME requirements for PBLI. The PBLI template helped programs document quality improvement (QI) projects and supported increased scholarly activity surrounding PBLI learning. METHODS: We reviewed program requirements for 43 residency and fellowship programs and identified specific PBLI requirements for QI activities. We also examined ACGME Program Information Form responses on PBLI core competency questions surrounding QI projects for program sites visited in 2008-2009. Data were integrated by a multidisciplinary committee to develop a peer-protected PBLI template guiding programs through process, documentation, and evaluation of QI projects. All steps were reviewed and approved through our GME Committee structure. RESULTS: An electronic template, companion checklist, and evaluation form were developed using identified project characteristics to guide programs through the PBLI process and facilitate documentation and evaluation of the process. During a 24 month period, 27 programs have completed PBLI projects, and 15 have reviewed the template with their education committees, but have not initiated projects using the template. DISCUSSION: The development of the tool generated program leaders' support because the tool enhanced the ability to meet program-specific objectives. The peer-protected status of this document for confidentiality and from discovery has been beneficial for program usage. The document aggregates data on PBLI and QI initiatives, offers opportunities to increase scholarship in QI, and meets the ACGME goal of linking measures to outcomes important to meeting accreditation requirements at the program and institutional level.

Ambulatory-based education in internal medicine: current organization and implications for transformation. Results of a national survey of resident continuity clinic directors.

BACKGROUND: Many have called for ambulatory training redesign in internal medicine (IM) residencies to increase primary care career outcomes. Many believe dysfunctional, clinic environments are a key barrier to meaningful ambulatory education, but little is actually known about the educational milieu of continuity clinics nationwide. OBJECTIVE: We wished to describe the infrastructure and educational milieu at resident continuity clinics and assess clinic readiness to meet new IM-RRC requirements. DESIGN: National survey of ACGME accredited IM training programs. PARTICIPANTS: Directors of academic and community-based continuity clinics. RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty-one out of 365 (62%) of clinic directors representing 49% of training programs responded. Wide variation amongst continuity clinics in size, structure and educational organization exist. Clinics below the 25th percentile of total clinic sessions would not meet RRC-IM requirements for total number of clinic sessions. Only two thirds of clinics provided a longitudinal mentor. Forty-three percent of directors reported their trainees felt stressed in the clinic environment and 25% of clinic directors felt overwhelmed. LIMITATIONS: The survey used self reported data and was not anonymous. A slight predominance of larger clinics and university based clinics responded. Data may not reflect changes to programs made since 2008. CONCLUSIONS: This national survey demonstrates that the continuity clinic experience varies widely across IM programs, with many sites not yet meeting new ACGME requirements. The combination of disadvantaged and ill patients with inadequately resourced clinics, stressed residents, and clinic directors suggests that many sites need substantial reorganization and institutional commitment.New paradigms, encouraged by ACGME requirement changes such as increased separation of inpatient and outpatient duties are needed to improve the continuity clinic experience.

Ambulatory office organization for internal medicine resident medical education.

PURPOSE: Residents will most effectively learn about ambulatory, systems-based practice by working in highly functional ambulatory practices; however, systems experiences in ambulatory training are thought to be highly variable. The authors sought to determine the prevalence of functional-practice characteristics at clinics where residents learn. METHOD: In 2007, the authors conducted a national survey of medical directors of resident continuity clinics using a comprehensive, Web-based instrument that included both a residency clinic assessment and a practice system assessment (PSA). The authors designed the PSA to estimate the Physician Practice Connections (PPC) score, indicating the readiness of a practice to function as a patient-centered medical home (PCMH). RESULTS: Of 356 clinic directors or physician representatives responding to an initial inquiry, 221 completed the survey (62%)--representing 185 programs (49% of accredited programs). The majority of clinics were hospital based (139/220; 63%) or hospital supported (41/220; 19%) and were located in urban settings (151/217; 70%). Estimated payer mix categories included Medicare or managed Medicare (169; 29%), Medicaid or managed Medicaid (161; 34%), and self-pay (156; 25%). The mean estimated PPC score was 53 points (of 100; SD = 17.6). Suburban and rural clinics, Veterans Affairs' clinics, federally qualified health centers, and clinics with a higher proportion of patients with commercial insurance or managed Medicare earned higher scores. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial portion of residency clinics have elements needed for PCMH recognition. However, clinics struggled with connecting these elements with coordination-of-care processes, suggesting areas for improvement to support better functioning of ambulatory training practices.

Commentary: watching closely at a distance: key tensions in supervising resident physicians.

Graded responsibility and autonomy are integral features of medical education. High-quality patient care is paramount and is the ultimate responsibility of the attending physician. In the training setting, the teaching attending holds quality of care constant while balancing the amount of supervision and autonomy he or she gives the learner. Sterkenburg and colleagues focus on how faculty members make their decisions to entrust patient care to learners. Both this critical decision and the process of deciding, performed many times a day by teaching faculty, are at the heart of the confluence of providing quality patient care and developing the next generation of physicians. Sterkenburg and colleagues innovatively use a system of rating (with six sequentially more complex entrustable professional activities [EPAs]) and structured interviews to better understand the current practice of entrusting care. They defined gaps between when attending faculty feel residents are ready to perform a particular EPA, when the residents feel ready, and when the residents actually perform it. The tension between the imperative to ensure quality care and the competing imperative to grant graded autonomy can be described as "watching closely at a distance." The details of who should watch whom, when and what to watch, and how and how much to watch are all key issues for faculty and residents. Sterkenburg and colleagues provide a framework for further investigation (e.g., discerning the ideal level of supervision, developing a gold standard for assessing EPAs) into these critical medical education challenges.

Prevalence and functionality of electronic health records in internal medicine continuity clinics.

PURPOSE: Health information technology (HIT), particularly electronic health records (EHRs), will become universal in ambulatory practices, but the current roles and functions that HIT and EHRs play in the ambulatory clinic settings of internal medicine (IM) residents are unknown. METHOD: The authors conducted a Web-based survey from July 2007 to January 2008 to ascertain HIT prevalence and functionality. Respondents were directors of one or more ambulatory clinics where IM residents completed any required outpatient training, as identified by directors of accredited U.S. IM residencies. RESULTS: The authors identified 356 clinic directors from 264 accredited U.S. programs (70%); 221 directors (62%) completed the survey, representing 185 accredited programs (49%). According to responding directors, residents in 121 of 216 clinics (56%) had access to EHRs, residents in 147 of 219 clinics (67%) used some type of electronic data system (EDS) to manage patient information, and residents in 62 clinics (28% of 219 responding) used an EDS to generate lists of patients needing follow-up care. Compared with smaller IM training programs, programs with > or =50 trainees were more likely to have an EDS (67% versus 53%, P = .037), electronic prescription writer (57% versus 42%, P = .026), or EHR (63% versus 45%, P = .007). CONCLUSIONS: Resident ambulatory clinics seem to have greater adoption of HIT and EHRs than practicing physicians' ambulatory offices. Ample room for improvement exists, however, as electronic systems with suboptimal patient data, limited functionality, and reliance on multiple (paper and electronic) systems all hinder residents' ability to perform important care coordination activities.

A model to improve value: the interdisciplinary palliative care services agreement.

Abstract This article examines the definition of value in medical care for palliative care patients and describes an Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Services Agreement, which is a framework for valued, financially sustainable palliative care at a 500-bed academic medical center. Quality standards drive team interventions and also serve as metrics for financial support. The agreement defines staffing ratios necessary for sustainable team growth and represents a financial model that positions the field of palliative medicine competitively among other medical specialities.