Electronic health records added an average of 16 minutes to the amount of time it took clinicians at two California hospitals to see a patient and chart the visit, according to a study recently presented at the American Academy of Family Physicians annual meeting.
Researchers surveyed 122 clinicians, mostly residents, at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, Calif., and Pomona (Calif.) Valley Hospital Medical Center, collecting a total of 99 responses.
The average time spent per patient increased from 21 minutes to 37 minutes. The researchers pointed to a lack of customized templates in the EHR, slow server speeds and inadequate clinician training as possible causes.
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