Posted By Amanda Girard On July 15, 2021
Combat Digital Burnout with these 3 EHR Solutions
Digital burnout is a growing problem. Societally, we have become reliant on technologies to stay connected and complete our work. These technologies can help but they can also lead to fatigue and information overload. Clinicians encounter stress when their online administrative tasks and messaging distract from patient care. And it’s not just physicians and nurses who struggle. Staff in scheduling and other departments also suffer when their tools hinder workflow. Patients also struggle if the portals they use are difficult to navigate. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) that do not feature user centered design directly contribute to digital burnout for all who access them. Your healthcare agency can combat digital burnout with these 3 EHR solutions, however.
Implement Interoperability
Your EHR should be easy to use while making communication between disparate systems more seamless. Don’t leave your clinicians and administrative staff struggling with incompatible file formats, forms or reports. Don’t leave them unable to access immunization registries and health information exchange (HIE) services. Get an EHR that works together with everything you need to optimize your workflow and combat digital burnout. Skipping this does not make your work more efficient than a paper solution, it just makes it different.
Incorporate Personalization
Combat digital burnout by giving your users the ability to personalize their screens. If your clinicians can move and show/hide widgets based on their personal workflow, it will save them time. If schedulers can color code their own calendars, it helps them develop their own system of organization. Patient portals can also be personalized to show features your visitors care most about like medication refill requests, appointment scheduling, bill payments and visit summaries. Prioritize personalization as part of your EHR interface design. That is how you put users at the center of streamlining their experiences and making your EHR work for them.
Improve Communication
It is a common complaint that people are inundated with too many messages, further leading to overwhelm. Combat digital burnout by eliminating popup messages on your EHR to help clinicians and administrators. Also give your patients and staff the ability to choose how they want to hear from you, whether it’s through emails, phone calls, texts, your patient portal, or all of the above. Open communication and engaging staff and patients is important in healthcare. Having an EHR that can send out automated appointment reminders and emails can save your staff a lot of time. Giving staff and patients options on how they want that communication can reduce fatigue even further.
