How Much Time Do Pediatricians Spend Using the Electronic Health Record?

Pediatricians averaged 16 minutes of electronic health record use per outpatient encounter.

Despite widespread adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) within pediatric healthcare systems, little is known about how much outpatient time clinicians devote to using the EHR and to what tasks.

These researchers analyzed national EHR data from ambulatory practices utilizing the Cerner Millennium EHR in 2018. The dataset included >20 million outpatient encounters by 30,000 physicians across 417 U.S. health systems. Time spent in the EHR was categorized into 12 mutually exclusive tasks, including chart review, documentation, message center, orders, allergies, or alerts.

The average total time spent in the EHR per encounter was 16 minutes. This varied by pediatric subspecialty, with surgery the shortest at an average of 6.8 minutes and…

Reviewing Author

James A. Feinstein, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Editorial BoardsPediatrics

James A. Feinstein, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Editorial BoardsPediatrics

How Much Time Do Pediatricians Spend Using the Electronic Health Record?

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Reviewing Author