Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1112467
Delivering the Future The majority of deliveries in Kansas pass through the hands of our graduates. Patient-centered, evidence-based and personalized patient care is the motto of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. We Doctor Kansas. Call today for more information: 316-962-3180. wichita.kumc.edu/obgyn Study Links Rising Burnout to EHR E X P A N S I O N BY STEVE BARRETT PHYSICIAN BURNOUT IS NOT NE W. THE SPEED AT WHICH IT IS SPRE ADING MAY BE. T H E R AT E O F bu r nout a mon g U. S . phy s i- cia ns rose f rom 45. 5 percent to 54.4 percent between 2011 and 2014, according to a 2018 study by resea rchers at the Universit y of Ca lifornia , R iverside School of Medicine. Among factors noted in the study, published in the American Journal of Medicine, are frustration with patients who frequently cha nge physicia ns a nd do not va lue continuit y of ca re, a s well a s insurance company-imposed limits on treatment. Drilling down into data rega rding physicia n satisfaction, however, t he resea rchers poi nt to ma ndator y EHR use a s a li kely sig nif ica nt contributor to the problem. Time spent f illing out EH R s creat es a n enor mous bu rden t hat f ur t her saps physicia ns' abi lit y to enjoy their work, they found. "Doctors now spend more time with electronic health records than they do with patients," study co-author Andrew G. Alexander, MD, states in a news release about the findings. "Electronic health records were pushed by the government at great expense and without regard to the effects upon patient or physician health. Go into any hospital and look for the nurses and the doctors. You will find them sitting in front of computers. They are not happy, and their patients are not healthier." Physicia ns in emergency medicine, fa mily medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics had the highest levels of burnout. n CORE 059990053_PhysicianLifeBalance1_L_ReadOnly.indd 1 1/16/19 1:50 PM M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S G R E AT E R K A N S A S ■ 2 019 0 7