Health care organizations have seen real clinical and financial benefits with the widespread adoption of the electronic health record (EHR). In addition to giving clinicians access to patients’ information with just a few clicks, data tools within the EHR promote appropriate care decisions and reduce medical errors. However, EHR usability issues make working in the system remarkably time-consuming and frustrating for clinicians, resulting in it being a major driver of physician burnout. Additionally, usability challenges are known to contribute to patient safety events.

This resource examines the root-cause of these challenges using insights from the field of human factors research and explores the steps provider organizations can take to target these usability and safety issues during EHR optimization.

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1. Understand the EHR’s role in driving burnout (p. 4)

Understand the impact burnout has in patient safety, physician wellness, and organizational efficiencies.

2. Approach the burnout problem holistically (p. 6)

Hone corporate governance, top-of-license work, and efficiency initiatives to support the reduction of clinician burnout.

3. Address three major sources of EHR usability issues (p. 8)

Address product and implementation challenges, reduce local customizations as much as possible, and improve clinician comfortability with the EHR.

4. Reduce local customizations as much as possible (p. 9)

Solve identified issues in the simplest way possible to avoid counter-productive effects of excessive configuration. When doing so, keep in mind the root cause of the errors and the realities of the clinical workflow.

5. Reduce burnout through EHR optimization (p. 10)

Collect, analyze, and act on user data to improve system usability and safety.

6. Optimize clinical decision support (p. 14)

Reduce excessive, unfocused alerts and other workflow interruptions by ensuring clinical decision support is managed in a disciplined, formal process.

7. Reexamine your clinician education and training approach (p. 18)

Ensure clinicians can navigate the EHR efficiently with an effective and flexible training program.

8. Give your vendor feedback (p. 20)

Provide specific feedback to vendors on EHR design features as well as their approach to implementation support.

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