Clinicians in clinics and hospitals often spend more time using electronic health record (EHR) systems than with patients. Studies show doctors spend over five hours on EHRs for every eight hours of patient visits. This shows how much extra work with paperwork is added.
This extra mental load comes from having to switch between different digital systems a lot. This causes interruptions and can lead to mistakes. Research shows that over 87% of medical errors happen because of this mental strain. Slow workflows, no automation, and doing the same data entry again and again make this problem worse. A survey by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives found that 60% of healthcare IT users feel frustrated because of bad workflows that lack automation and integration.
Burnout affects about 41 to 52% of healthcare workers. It causes people to retire early, leads to fewer workers, and makes it harder for patients to get care. Overworked clinicians cannot give the best care, which hurts patient safety and results.
One way to reduce the mental load for clinicians is to put evidence-based clinical decision support (CDS) tools inside EHRs. When these tools are built in well, they give doctors the information they need right away. Doctors don’t have to leave their main system or use many apps.
For example, adding UpToDate®—a clinical reference—to EHRs lets doctors get trusted medical information with one click during patient visits. This saves time from searching and reduces logging in many times. According to Wolters Kluwer Health, 93% of clinicians saved time using UpToDate inside EHRs, and 91% were happier with their EHRs after this was added.
Embedded CDS helps decision-making by bringing together patient records, lab results, medicine history, and guidelines in one place. This cuts down on repeated tests and different types of care, which helps patient safety and lowers costs. Giving care based on evidence at the point of care improves results and takes less work for clinicians.
Care coordination means managing communication and activities among many healthcare providers and settings. When care is split up, important information can get lost, causing delays or repeated treatments and confusing patients.
Using evidence-based tools inside EHRs helps teams share updated patient information and clinical plans. This makes treatments more consistent and improves patient results.
Places like St. Luke’s University Health Network and Memorial Hospital Gulfport use centralized workflows with decision support and evidence guidelines. These systems have made clinicians trust the technology more and improved patient education and prevention.
When one system supports care coordination, clinicians have less mental stress. They don’t have to jump between different systems. This helps reduce fatigue from managing patient information.
Patient education is also important to lower clinician workload and burnout. Patients often forget 40% to 80% of the medical information they get after a visit. This causes many repeat questions, which means more work for providers.
Health groups that add patient education with multiple languages and media report fewer repeat questions. For example, Allina Health Cancer Institute used patient education and language programs to help providers focus on more important tasks. Patients also understood their care better.
Patient education tools inside EHRs give consistent, clear information through print, apps, or portals. This helps patients follow treatment plans and lowers some of the follow-up work for clinicians.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can help reduce mental stress and make systems work better.
AI can do many admin and clinical tasks that take a lot of time. For example, generative AI can write and summarize notes from patient visits, saving clinician time. AI decision support can analyze patient data instantly and suggest treatment ideas and risks like drug problems. This helps doctors make faster, better choices.
Still, many doctors worry about AI. Nine out of ten say they worry about how clear AI is and where it gets its medical info. So, leaders must set rules to keep AI safe and trusted.
A survey by Wolters Kluwer showed 80% of healthcare workers think AI will make workflows better, but only 18% of organizations have clear AI rules. This means a plan is needed to use AI safely and well.
Voice and ambient listening tools also help by letting clinicians work hands-free. This means they spend more time with patients and less on data entry, lowering burnout.
IT managers and practice owners should invest in systems that use AI and automation well and fit clinician workflows. Working with clinicians to design tools that are easy to use helps make sure people use them. Also, checking how these tools affect care and costs is important for ongoing success.
Fixing burnout needs more than technology. A systems thinking method looks at healthcare as one connected system. It finds broken workflows and shares work evenly across care teams. Technology should support this by lowering pressure on individual clinicians.
It’s important to involve many groups early, including clinicians, patients, IT staff, and leaders. Getting their ideas helps spot problems before using new tools and makes changes easier. Ongoing training and communication keep everyone ready for new systems.
Embed evidence-based clinical decision support tools within EHRs: Help doctors make decisions in real time. Cut down workflow breaks and make users happier.
Consolidate patient data and care plans: Put all information in one place to improve care teamwork and reduce repeated tasks.
Integrate patient education into clinical workflows: Use tools in many languages and formats to lower repeated patient questions, letting providers focus on important work.
Adopt AI and automation thoughtfully: Use clear rules, involve clinicians in design, and improve notes, decision support, and admin tasks.
Apply systems thinking: Fix broken workflows and share tasks across teams to lower individual stress.
Engage stakeholders early and continuously: Work together for better technology use and smoother changes.
By using these steps, healthcare providers in the United States can improve clinician satisfaction, care teamwork, and patient results. Adding evidence-based info inside EHRs, along with AI and automation, offers practical ways to face current challenges in medical care.
Streamlined workflows reduce burnout by prioritizing efficiency and promoting patient engagement as part of the care team. They eliminate redundancies such as repeated data entry and integrate systems to provide a comprehensive patient view, reducing administrative burden and allowing clinicians to focus on meaningful patient interactions.
Patient engagement empowers patients to self-manage their care using technology, which alleviates clinicians’ emotional and administrative burdens. It fosters unified care teams and builds trust, addressing moral injury by helping clinicians feel more effective and supported in delivering care.
EHRs can integrate evidence-based information into clinician workflows, break down data silos, and streamline care processes. Embedding solutions within EHRs improves speed-to-answer and optimizes clinician time without adding strain, maximizing healthcare IT investments to relieve burnout.
Patient education integrated into workflows reduces clinician workload by minimizing repeated explanations of diagnoses and treatments. Multilingual and multimedia formats engage patients effectively, enabling them to participate actively in their care and freeing providers for higher-value tasks.
Integrating trusted, evidence-based information into workflows supports clinical decision-making and care coordination. It prevents workflow fragmentation, reduces reliance on multiple applications, and enhances resilience by streamlining care processes and decreasing cognitive burden on clinicians.
Preventive care focuses on health behaviors and social determinants that account for most modifiable patient outcomes. Educating and empowering patients in preventive measures reduces follow-up work and administrative tasks for providers, thereby lowering burnout risk.
Systems thinking targets the fragmentation in healthcare, using technology solutions implemented at the system level to distribute responsibilities more evenly and reduce overload on individual providers, thus mitigating burnout caused by systemic inefficiencies.
Early and broad engagement—including clinicians, patients, IT, and leadership—helps anticipate barriers, facilitates change management, and improves adoption. Continuous education and multiple communication channels ensure stakeholders remain informed and empowered during transitions.
AI and digital tools automate administrative tasks and clinical decision support, improving workflow efficiency and reducing cognitive load. They provide real-time insights, enabling clinicians to make faster, evidence-based decisions while focusing more on patient care.
Mobile apps, digital education platforms, and integrated wellness content allow patients to actively participate in their care journey. These technologies reduce misunderstandings, repetitive provider explanations, and support sustained patient-provider collaboration, easing clinician burden.
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