Clinician burnout is on the rise in the USA. Healthcare organizations are looking at different methods to mitigate physician burnout associated with clinical documentation. After the first two years of the pandemic clinician burnout rate spiked radically as revealed by a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Hospitals can use EMR Software audit logs to better comprehend provider workflow challenges to characterize how physicians spend time on the EHR system and then offer clinician burnout interventions according to an ONC HealthITBuzz blog. By keeping burnout at bay, healthcare providers can be satisfied to offer high-quality patient care and improve health outcomes.
What are EHR software audit logs?
EHR audit logs are sometimes referred to as audit trails. The audit logs are an automated tracking feature that can monitor clinician activity in the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software system. The automated tool can effectively track the time providers spent on clinical documentation and other tasks on the software such as messaging and reviewing patient charts.
When the EHR activity of providers is monitored regularly, it can help address any upcoming burnout challenges and even detect ways to optimize electronic medical records software usage for optimum efficiency.
Clinician documentation measuring tools
Access to data provided by clinician documentation measuring tools like EMR audit logs or trails can improve the user experience, and provide solid interventions to mitigate prevailing burnout.
Recently, EHR audit logs have been backed by the software system. Though EMR software vendors are not subjected to deploying the audit trails technology in their system. The ONC and other federal agencies have encouraged using electronic health records audits to offer strategic insights on how to address burnout issues.
Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems that are certified by the ONC should offer the capability to generate audit log data, so reports can be created on clinicians’ EHR software use activity.
Importance of EMR audit logs
Data from the audit logs can be leveraged to enhance the healthcare organization’s ability to monitor the amount of time their physicians spend on the software. The powerful audit trails can help to decrease the burden, enhance job satisfaction for doctors, and mitigate burnout – The issues that have surfaced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing EHR user behavior can provide a roadmap for timely burnout interventions.
