A 2:1 Ratio of MD Time on Record Keeping to Patient Care?

This article caught my eye recently:

For Every Hour With Patients, Doctors Spend Two Record-Keeping

(via Forbes)

From the start of the article:

Physicians may be spending twice as much time grappling with new electronic health record systems and “desk work” as they are providing medical care to their patients, according to a new study.

An analysis of nearly 60 doctors in four U.S. states shows electronic health record systems designed to speed patient referrals and improve treatment are contributing to doctor burnout and taking away from patient care. The findings from a “time and motion” study are published in the Sept. 6 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.  

“ For every hour physicians provide direct clinical face time to patients, nearly 2 additional hours is spent on EHR and desk work within the clinic day,” researchers wrote. “Outside office hours, physicians spend another one to two hours of personal time each night doing additional computer and other clerical work.”

What do you think?

Does somebody want to dig into the time study? Think time and motion studies are outdated? Nope…

Also, check out this article:

Taking Lean to the screen: Removing waste from the electronic health record