Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Exploring the Association Between Electronic Health Record Use and Burnout Among Psychiatry Residents and Faculty: a Pilot Survey Study

  • In Brief Report
  • Published:
Academic Psychiatry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Burnout is a phenomenon with profound negative effects on the US healthcare system. Little is known about the relationship between time spent working on electronic health record (EHR) and burnout among psychiatry residents. The purpose of this study is to generate preliminary data on EHR use and burnout among psychiatry residents and faculty.

Methods

In August 2017, psychiatry residents and faculty at an academic medical center were given the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a standardized measurement tool for burnout, and a survey of factors related to EHR use and potential risk factors for burnout. MBI data along with selected burnout risk and protective factors were analyzed with R Studio software.

Results

Responses were obtained from 40 psychiatry residents (73%) and 12 clinical faculty members (40%). Residents reported 22 h per week using EHR on average. Mean score of residents surveyed in postgraduate year (PGY)-1–4 met criteria for high emotional exhaustion associated with burnout. The magnitude of correlation between EHR use and emotional exhaustion was stronger than for other burnout factors including sleep, exercise, and clinical service.

Conclusions

Psychiatry residents show signs of high emotional exhaustion, which is associated with burnout. Results demonstrate a strong positive correlation between EHR use and resident burnout. Time spent on EHR use may be an area of importance for psychiatry program directors and other psychiatric educators to consider when seeking to minimize burnout and promote wellness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Shanafelt TD, Hasan O, Dyrbye LN, Sinsky C, Satele D, Sloan J, et al. Changes in burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance in physicians and the general US working population between 2011 and 2014. Mayo Clin Proc. 2015;90(12):1600–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. West CP, Tan AD, Habermann TM, Sloan JA, Shanafelt TD. Association of resident fatigue and distress with perceived medical errors. JAMA. 2009;302(12):1294–300.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Grol R, et al. Work satisfaction of general practitioners and the quality of patient care. Fam Pract. 1985;2(3):128–35.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Haas JS, Cook EF, Puopolo AL, Burstin HR, Cleary PD, Brennan TA. Is the professional satisfaction of general internists associated with patient satisfaction? J Gen Intern Med. 2000;15(2):122–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Dewa CS, Jacobs P, Thanh NX, Loong D. An estimate of the cost of burnout on early retirement and reduction in clinical hours of practicing physicians in Canada. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014;14:254.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Shanafelt TD, Bradley KA, Wipf JE, Back AL. Burnout and self-reported patient care in an internal medicine residency program. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:358–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Oreskovich MR, et al. The prevalence of substance use disorders in American physicians. Am J Addict. 2014;24(1):30–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. van der Heijden F, Dillingh G, Bakker A, Prins J. Suicidal thoughts among medical residents with burnout. Arch Suicide Res. 2008;12:344–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Brazeau CM, et al. Distress among matriculating medical students relative to the general population. Acad Med. 2014;89(11):1520–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychologic distress among US and Canadian medical students. Acad Med. 2006;81:354–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. West CP, Shanafelt TD, Kolars JC. Quality of life, burnout, educational debt, and medical knowledge among internal medicine residents. JAMA. 2011;306(9):952–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Holmes EG, Connolly AM, Putnam KT, Penaskovic KM, Denniston CR, Clark LH, et al. Taking care of our own: a multispecialty study of resident and program director perspectives on contributors to burnout and potential interventions. Acad Psychiatry. 2017;41:159–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Martini S, Arfken CL, Churchill A, Balon R. Burnout comparison among residents in different medical specialties. Acad Psychiatry. 2004;28(3):240–2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kealy D, Halli P, Ogrodniczuk JS, Hadjipavlou G. Burnout among Canadian psychiatry residents: a national survey. Can J Psychiatr. 2016;61(11):732–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Physician well-being. 2017. http://www.acgme.org/What-We-Do/Initiatives/Physician-Well-Being Accessed 06 January 2018.

  16. Bernstein C. Suicides of young physicians raise alarm about burnout among trainees. 2017. http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2017.9b4 Accessed 06 January 2018.

  17. Ripp JA, Bellini L, Fallar R, Bazari H, Katz JT, Korenstein D. The impact of duty hours restrictions on job burnout in internal medicine residents: a three-institution comparison study. Acad Med. 2015;90(4):494–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Tai-Seale M, Olson CW, Li J, Chan AS, Morikawa C, Durbin M, et al. Electronic health record logs indicate that physicians split time evenly between patients and desktop medicine. Health Affairs (Millwood). 2017;36(4):655–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Alromaihi D, Godfrey A, Dimoski T, Gunnels P, Scher E, Baker-Genaw K. Internal medicine residents’ time study: paperwork versus patient care. J Grad Med Educ. 2011;3(4):550–3.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Block et al. In the wake of the 2003 and 2011 duty hours regulations, how do internal medicine interns spend their time? J Gen Intern Med. 2013;28(8):1042–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the psychiatry residents and faculty of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for their participation in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Nicholas M. Domaney, John Torous & William E. Greenberg

Authors
  1. Nicholas M. Domaney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John Torous
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. William E. Greenberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas M. Domaney.

Ethics declarations

We received local IRB approval to conduct this study.

Disclosures

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Domaney, N.M., Torous, J. & Greenberg, W.E. Exploring the Association Between Electronic Health Record Use and Burnout Among Psychiatry Residents and Faculty: a Pilot Survey Study. Acad Psychiatry 42, 648–652 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-018-0939-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-018-0939-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation