Technology | 01.22.20
Doctors Average 16 Minutes on the Computer for Every Patient
by NAMSS Staff
Reuters (01/13/20) Rapoport, Lisa
A study of roughly 100 million patient encounters with about 155,000 doctors from 417 health systems found physicians spend an average 16 minutes per patient using electronic health records (EHRs). Clinicians spent the most time performing chart reviews, which constituted about 33% of total time using the records. EHR deployment was meant to enhance chart review overall, as more complete charts and more rigorous review was linked to improved patient outcomes. The University of California San Francisco School of Medicine's Julia Adler-Milstein said, "Whether it's EHRs or anything else that is taking a doctor's attention away from the patient, patients should feel empowered to speak up if they feel that they have not been given the opportunity to share all pertinent information with their doctor or feel that their doctor might have missed something because their attention was directed elsewhere." The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Read the full article from Reuters.