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A new JAMA Network Open study confirms what physicians have suspected this year: your EHR inbox message volume is increasing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can view the study here.

Researchers tracked deidentified Epics EHR metadata between March 2018 and June 2021 in a large ambulatory practice network in New England. During the first 15 months of the public health emergency, primary care physicians saw an increase from 45 EHR messages to 46 per day. Non-primary care physicians who were not surgeons saw an increase from 29.3 to 32.0 EHR messages per day. 

Related to this, screen time with EHRs also increased. PCPs saw an increase from 21.7 to 25.1 minutes per day staring at an EHR, 13.4 to 15.6 for non-PCP non-surgeons, and 7.6 to 11.1 minutes per day for surgeons. Researchers noted this may be an underestimate due to how the data was tracked; for example reviewing notes, related to a message would not have counted in this time. 

Even more concerning, the tracked practice saw this increase as patient volume decreased due to delayed surgeries and stay-at-home orders. Patient phone calls also did not decrease, meaning more work with fewer in-person patients.

Unfortunately, this data reinforces that physician burnout is a major concern and has many factors, some unexpected but real.