In a recent study published in JAMIA, researchers investigated the impact of EHR stress on physician burnout across various specialties. The July 20th study involved 627 physicians at UC San Diego Health who provided valuable feedback for analysis.
The findings revealed intriguing insights:
Physicians who enlisted support staff to handle patient MyChart messages did not show lower odds of burnout compared to those who directly received the messages themselves.
Burnout among physicians was linked to the volume of prescription authorization messages they received. Those with a higher number of prescription authorizations had increased odds of experiencing burnout.
The study also highlighted that physicians facing heightened perceived EHR stress were 1.15 times more likely to experience burnout.
Overall, the study emphasized that perceived EHR stress and prescription reauthorization messages played significant roles in contributing to physician burnout. It also noted that non-EHR factors, such as feeling undervalued or misaligned with clinic leaders' values, were equally important contributors to the increasing levels of physician burnout.