Electronic Health Records and Doctor Burnout

Electronic health records are here to stay. So, what’s it going to take to relieve providers of burdens imposed on them by the EHR? It will take a real culture change, more than just jiggering a few policies or procedures. Clinicians and clinical concerns need to be placed at the forefront of EHR development and deployment. People on the front lines of patient care must not only be consulted about the EHR, they—not the administrators, accountants or technologists, not even the quality specialists—must be empowered to make most of the decisions about it.

Clinicians must reclaim our identity as healers whose foundation is built on the relationship between patient and provider. Health care information systems should be constructed in a way that facilitates these relationships. Patients’ stories need to be promoted to a position in the EHR that is equal to their data.

The full article from the Scientific American blogs can be viewed at this link.