Study: Physicians spend half their time on EHRs, desk work

Editor's Note

In this study, researchers found that physicians spent 49.2% of their time during the day on electronic health records and desk work and 27% of their time with patients. In addition, they spent an extra 1 to 2 hours each night during their personal time on EHRs.

While in the examination room with patients, physicians spent 52.9% of the time on direct clinical care and 37% on EHRs and desk work.

Physician specialties included in the study were family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, and orthopedics.

From the American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois; Sharp End Advisory, Hanover, New Hampshire; Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire. Acknowledgment: The authors thank each of the medical students who assisted in this work: Komal Dhir, Eyitemi Fregene, Michelle Kim, Timothy Nobbee, Timothy O'Dowd, Nirali Patel, Max Schmidt-Bowman, Fernando Vasquez, Kathryn Whittington, and Sylven Yaccas.