The Frustrations of EMRs for Clinicians
Ask any clinician about their experience with electronic medical records (EMRs), and you’ll likely hear a familiar set of frustrations. EMRs are essential, rich sources of data, but they often do little to improve clinical workflow. Instead, they tend to increase the administrative burden, standing between clinicians, patients, and the care documentation requirements.
There is a significant inefficiency in medical device technology integration today. Manufacturers need to invest in API integrations to streamline this process, while hospitals should allocate resources to manage these integrations. Smart devices should be just that—smart—by automatically feeding data into the EMR.
According to Statistica, clinicians spend an average of 17 to 24 minutes per patient, seeing between 11 and 20 patients daily. However, for every patient visit, clinicians face up to two additional hours of desk work, managing EMR documentation, prior authorizations, and follow-up communications. This leaves clinicians working with only a limited snapshot of the patient’s health status, making it challenging to provide comprehensive care.
The Disconnect Between Data and Documentation
As patients increasingly use health-tracking apps to monitor various aspects of their well-being, from heart rate to glucose levels, one might wonder why this data isn’t seamlessly integrated into their medical records. Why should patients have to manually report what devices can track automatically?
Hospitals are required to use EMRs, and two major systems dominate the market. These EMRs are often highly customized, with hospitals spending millions of dollars annually to maintain them. However, device manufacturers face the difficult task of integrating their products with these complex systems.
Ideally, manufacturers should focus on innovation, using standardized APIs to ensure their devices work seamlessly with any EMR. Expecting them to manually integrate their devices with every hospital’s EMR is inefficient and detracts from innovation.
Until these integrations happen, clinicians are left manually entering data from PDFs or third-party websites, which is both time-consuming and prone to errors. This adds to an already burdensome workflow. Research shows that clinicians spending more than 90 minutes on EMR documentation after work is the greatest predictor of burnout.1
The Impact of EMR-Related Burnout
Why is it so crucial to minimize the time clinicians spend on EMR-related tasks? The simple answer is that we don’t have enough clinicians to meet the growing demand in nearly every medical field. Losing more to burnout would be catastrophic. Improving workplace efficiency is essential for retaining clinicians and reducing burnout.
Another key predictor of burnout is the time clinicians spend on clerical work during the workday. Spending more than 60 minutes on EMR documentation during a shift contributes significantly to mental and emotional fatigue 2
Transforming the EMR from Burden to Superpower
So, how do we make the EMR a tool for empowerment, rather than a roadblock? The answer lies in efficiency—specifically, automating data integration wherever possible. Here’s how:
- Automatic Data Capture: Was the patient’s blood pressure already taken? That information should automatically populate the EMR without requiring manual entry.
- Seamless Health Tracking: If patients are logging data at home—whether it’s daily glucose levels, physical activity, or sleep patterns—this should sync with their medical records. This eliminates the need for patients to recall data or bring handwritten logs, which can be inaccurate or incomplete.
- Smart Device Integration: Some patients are great at self-reporting health metrics, but many struggle to track or recall them accurately. Devices should do the heavy lifting, offering a data bridge to the chart, so hospitals have an option for integration. Further, clinicians then would have a comprehensive view without needing to ask for additional information or sift through third-party reports.
Locus: Bridging the Gap Between Devices and EMRs
Locus aims to be the bridge between medical devices and EMRs, giving clinicians a complete view of a patient’s health without adding to their administrative workload. If you’re a manufacturer seeking to integrate your devices with hospital EMRs, or a health system looking for ways to streamline this process, we’re here to help. Let Locus manage the integration, so hospitals can focus on patients, and manufacturers can focus on innovation.
EMR-related burnout is a solvable problem. By focusing on workplace efficiencies and automating data capture, we can transform EMRs from administrative burdens into tools that empower clinicians. This approach not only reduces burnout but also improves the quality of care by giving clinicians the full picture of a patient’s health. The time for change is now—let’s help clinicians help patients by making the EMR work for them, not against them.
References
- Peccoralo LA, Kaplan CA, Pietrzak RH, Charney DS, Ripp JA. The impact of time spent on the electronic health record after work and of clerical work on burnout among clinical faculty. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021;28(5):938-947. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocaa349
- Richwine C, Patel V. Trends in electronic health record capabilities for tracking documentation time. Am J Manag Care. 2023;29(1):50-55. doi:10.37765/ajmc.2023.89303
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