That time your doctor spends scrolling through and clicking around your health records may be distracting, but it isn’t for nothing — patients whose doctors spent more time looking at their electronic health records (EHRs) had better outcomes based on a few measures, including blood glucose control, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Electronic health records carry both clear benefits and risks, as noted in an article on the study at HealthLeaders. One risk is that doctors who spend too much time looking at EHRs, in general, are more likely to experience burnout — possibly in part because of the time spent looking at a computer screen. But studying a patient’s records in a meaningful way also takes time that can lead to longer hours in the office — another possible reason for burnout among doctors who spend more time on EHRs. The latest study makes clear that simply spending less time looking at EHRs is not a solution, but that there may need to be a balance struck — and protocols put in place — to ensure that doctors spend enough time on each patient’s record, but not too much time doing this overall.
To get cutting-edge diabetes news, strategies for blood glucose management, nutrition tips, healthy recipes, and more delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletters!
The latest study included 291 doctors, with a median of 829 patients each, who were primary care providers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. These doctors were found to spend a median of 145.9 minutes each day reading or editing electronic health records, and an average of 70.0 of these minutes were outside scheduled hours for doing so. The researchers compared how much time each doctor spent on EHRs, and compared this with the proportion of each doctor’s patients who met certain health related goals — including good control of A1C (a measure of long-term blood glucose control) in patients with established diabetes, good blood pressure control in patients with high blood pressure, diabetes screening, and breast cancer screening in women.
Time spent reviewing EHRs linked to better health outcomes
The researchers found that for every additional 15-minute period doctors spent with EHRs, their patients were 0.58 percentage points more likely to meet A1C standards, 0.52 percentage points more likely to meet blood pressure standards, and 0.28 percentage points more likely to be screened for breast cancer according to guidelines. There were no links between time spent on EHRs and diabetes screening or blood lipid (cholesterol and triglyceride) management in patients with cardiovascular disease.
“Although increased EHR time is associated with burnout, it may represent a level of thoroughness or communication that enhances certain outcomes,” the researchers concluded, adding that “it may be useful for future studies to characterize payment models, workflows, and technologies that enable high-quality […] care delivery while minimizing EHR burden.”
Want to learn more about managing blood glucose? See our “Blood Sugar Chart,” then read “What Is a Normal Blood Sugar Level?” and “Strike the Spike II: How to Manage High Blood Glucose After Meals.”
