Global EHR Satisfaction 2022

Trust in IT & Organization Leadership Is Crucial to EHR Satisfaction

Across Collaborative members and regardless of geographic location, Collaborative data has shown that a supportive IT structure is the factor most associated with strong EHR satisfaction. Specifically at global health systems, clinicians who strongly agree that their organization supports the EHR well are 132 times more likely to be satisfied with the EHR than those who strongly disagree. Those who disagree or strongly disagree that their organization provides sufficient support for the EHR account for 26% of all respondents from global health systems.

Organizations that have lower levels of trust between clinicians and organization and IT leadership may wonder what they can do to improve. King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre in Saudi Arabia hosted a Collaborative webinar in which they shared how they create a high-trust environment by supporting their end users and engaging clinicians in EHR governance. Key points from the webinar include:

• Engage clinical participants in EHR governance
• Deploy superusers or clinician champions who share the same clinical background as end users and can pass challenges experienced by users and ideas for enhancement on to governance committees
• Include representation from all departments on the clinician informatics team
• Standardize new-hire education; use ongoing EHR education to focus on training specific to the end user’s specialty and needs
• Engage end users in creating EHR education
• Analyze end-user feedback and present it to leadership to gain buy-in, then act on the areas needing improvement

EHR Training Represents Significant Opportunity for Global Health Systems

Globally, just 11% of clinicians strongly agree that their ongoing EHR education is sufficient, and almost two-thirds would like additional training. The gap is particularly evident in Europe, where a majority of organizations report below average satisfaction with EHR training (Collaborative members in Europe are located in England, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands). Training represents a significant opportunity for global organizations to improve the overall EHR experience since clinicians at these organizations who strongly agree that their ongoing training is sufficient are 25 times more likely to be satisfied with their EHR than those who strongly disagree. Evidence-based practices for building successful initial and ongoing EHR training can be found in the Collaborative’s Clinician Training: 2021 Update report. Some highlights from that report are shared below:

• Self-directed eLearning is not as effective as other types of training
• Clinician satisfaction with training is higher when the training lasts at least an hour
• On average, clinicians who strongly agree that their initial or ongoing EHR training prepared them well to use the system have Net EHR Experience Scores significantly higher than clinicians who strongly disagree that their training was sufficient

Clinician Burnout Is a Global Issue

26% of clinicians in this global research report at least some symptoms of burnout. Compared to other clinical roles, nurses and allied health professionals are the most likely to be experiencing burnout and may need extra consideration as organizations look for opportunities to address the challenges that drive burnout.

What can be done to alleviate symptoms of burnout? Collaborative data provides insights into several factors that are strongly correlated with burnout. The data below is not all specific to global respondents but is still useful in identifying potential areas of focus:

• Ongoing training: Clinicians who strongly disagree that their ongoing training is sufficient are 3.5 times more likely to report feeling burned out.
• Trust in organization/IT leadership: Clinicians who report strong trust in their organization leadership and IT are 14% less likely to report feeling burned out.
• Charting efficiency: Burnout can be significantly impacted by the amount of time a clinician spends charting. Globally, clinicians with a highly efficient chart-closure rate (i.e., they complete >66% of charts the same day) are less likely to report burnout (see chart). Efficient charting also leads to higher EHR satisfaction in both inpatient and outpatient environments. Global organizations may benefit from reviewing the Collaborative report on Immediate Chart-Closure Rates for best practices around charting efficiency.

What Is the KLAS Arch Collaborative?

The Arch Collaborative is a group of healthcare organizations committed to improving the EHR experience through standardized surveys and benchmarking. To date, over 250 healthcare organizations have surveyed their end users and over 240,000 clinicians have responded. Impact reports such as this one seek to synthesize the feedback from these clinicians into actionable insights that organizations can use to revolutionize patient care by unlocking the potential of the EHR. To participate in the Arch Collaborative, go to klasresearch.com/arch-collaborative.