Do electronic health record systems "dumb down" clinicians?

Genevieve B. Melton; James J. Cimino; Christoph U. Lehmann; Patricia R. Sengstack; Joshua C. Smith; William M. Tierney; Randolph A. Miller

doi:10.1093/jamia/ocac163

Do electronic health record systems "dumb down" clinicians?

Genevieve B. Melton, James J. Cimino, Christoph U. Lehmann, Patricia R. Sengstack, Joshua C. Smith, William M. Tierney, Randolph A. Miller

Surgery

Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review

Abstract

A panel sponsored by the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) at the 2021 AMIA Symposium addressed the provocative question: "Are Electronic Health Records dumbing down clinicians?" After reviewing electronic health record (EHR) development and evolution, the panel discussed how EHR use can impair care delivery. Both suboptimal functionality during EHR use and longer-term effects outside of EHR use can reduce clinicians' efficiencies, reasoning abilities, and knowledge. Panel members explored potential solutions to problems discussed. Progress will require significant engagement from clinician-users, educators, health systems, commercial vendors, regulators, and policy makers. Future EHR systems must become more user-focused and scalable and enable providers to work smarter to deliver improved care.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	172-177
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
Volume	30
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocac163
State	Published - Dec 13 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Keywords

burnout
cognition
documentation
electronic health records
HITECH act (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act)
professional
psychological

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Editorial
Comment

Publisher link

10.1093/jamia/ocac163

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@article{a2b5eeffe0f84e498e1b11e4d293962c,

title = "Do electronic health record systems {"}dumb down{"} clinicians?",

abstract = "A panel sponsored by the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) at the 2021 AMIA Symposium addressed the provocative question: {"}Are Electronic Health Records dumbing down clinicians?{"} After reviewing electronic health record (EHR) development and evolution, the panel discussed how EHR use can impair care delivery. Both suboptimal functionality during EHR use and longer-term effects outside of EHR use can reduce clinicians' efficiencies, reasoning abilities, and knowledge. Panel members explored potential solutions to problems discussed. Progress will require significant engagement from clinician-users, educators, health systems, commercial vendors, regulators, and policy makers. Future EHR systems must become more user-focused and scalable and enable providers to work smarter to deliver improved care.",

keywords = "burnout, cognition, documentation, electronic health records, HITECH act (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), professional, psychological",

author = "Melton, {Genevieve B.} and Cimino, {James J.} and Lehmann, {Christoph U.} and Sengstack, {Patricia R.} and Smith, {Joshua C.} and Tierney, {William M.} and Miller, {Randolph A.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1093/jamia/ocac163",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "30",

pages = "172--177",

journal = "Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA",

issn = "1067-5027",