Understanding Clinician Burnout: Top Challenges in EMR Workflow and the Need for Integrated Patient Data

As healthcare continues to evolve, so do the tools clinicians rely on daily. Electronic Medical Records (EMR), while designed to streamline processes, often contribute significantly to clinician burnout due to workflow inefficiencies. The current state of the EHR is frequently pinpointed by physicians as the single most important stressor in patient care, and nearly 75% with burnout symptoms identify the EHR as a source. 

The impact on patient care is substantial: physicians now spend approximately two hours of work for every hour of face-to-face patient interaction, with many completing administrative tasks during the off-hours, often referred to as “pajama time.” These systems often impose unintuitive workflows that increase cognitive burden rather than support care delivery. What was intended to be a tool for better documentation has instead become a barrier to meaningful patient interaction, with EHR demands frequently dominating patient encounters and undermining the core face-to-face interactions essential for quality care.

Additionally, new clinical care models that lack integration of patient-generated data (PGD) add another layer of complexity, particularly for those working with vulnerable populations. Let’s break down the top three issues related to EMR workflows and how they intersect with the need for integrated PGD.

1. Excessive Documentation Requirements

The Issue: Clinicians are frequently required to document extensively within EMRs to meet regulatory, billing, and legal standards. Each patient encounter demands time-consuming data entry, with clinicians and extended care teams often required to add detailed notes, codes, and additional information that may not directly enhance patient care.

Impact: This administrative burden cuts into time that could otherwise be dedicated to patient interaction, resulting in increased stress and reduced job satisfaction. For many clinicians, these documentation requirements turn the EMR from a tool of support into an administrative taskmaster, contributing significantly to burnout.

Challenge with New Care Models: Emerging care models, especially those relying on continuous data from patient-generated sources, face a significant challenge when this data isn’t integrated into the EMR. If clinicians have to document patient-generated data manually or switch between different systems to access it, the workload and documentation time increase, compounding the issue of burnout.

2. Inefficient User Interfaces and Poor Workflow Design

The Issue: Many EMR systems have interfaces that are not optimized for clinical workflows. Navigating through multiple screens, fields, and tabs to complete simple tasks is not only time-consuming but also mentally taxing. Poor interface design often fails to match the logical flow of clinical decision-making, forcing clinicians to take additional steps to complete even routine activities.

Impact: A nonintuitive interface disrupts clinicians' cognitive flow, increasing the likelihood of errors and the time required to complete tasks. This ultimately leaves healthcare providers feeling frustrated, fatigued, and less efficient in their roles.

The Challenge with New Care Models: For new clinical care models, which may generate high volumes of patient data (such as continuous monitoring of vitals), poor workflow design can significantly hinder adoption. If the EMR doesn’t support the seamless integration of this data into the patient’s chart, clinicians face an added burden of manually interpreting and acting on data from separate platforms—further disrupting workflow. 

3. Lack of Interoperability and Data Accessibility

The Issue: In a complex healthcare ecosystem, interoperability— the ability for different systems to communicate and share information seamlessly—is critical. However, many EMRs lack sufficient interoperability with other healthcare systems and other sources of patient data, creating silos that obstruct data flow and limit clinicians’ access to a comprehensive patient history.

Impact: The inability to quickly access relevant patient information creates extra steps and delays in patient care. This lack of interoperability not only affects patient outcomes but also increases clinician workload, as they must often search for information across multiple systems, applications or rely on manual methods to transfer data, which heightens burnout.

The Challenge with New Care Models: With the advent of wearable devices and other patient-generated data sources, clinicians increasingly rely on real-time data to make informed decisions. However, without robust interoperability, this data often remains separate from the patient’s main chart. The disconnect means clinicians either have to go without this critical data in their decision-making or expend additional effort to gather and interpret it from other sources. For innovative care models to succeed, integrating this data into EMRs is crucial to supporting streamlined, informed clinical workflows.

Final Thoughts

Addressing clinician burnout in the context of EMR workflows and new care models requires a multifaceted approach.

Recent KLAS data shows that while burnout rates slightly decreased among physicians and nurses, they remain elevated above pre-pandemic levels. The Arch Collaborative's extensive research between January 2022 and August 2023, drawing from over 20,000 physicians and 32,000 nurses, demonstrates the persistent challenge of burnout and its relationship with EHR systems. EMR systems must evolve to offer more user-friendly interfaces, reduce documentation burdens, and support greater interoperability with patient-generated data.

By ensuring that EMR workflows align with the real needs of clinicians—and by facilitating seamless integration of PGD into patient records—healthcare organizations can support more efficient workflows, enhance patient care, and ultimately reduce the burnout that so many clinicians face today.