Faculty, resident, and clinic staff's evaluation of the effects of EHR implementation

There have been few reports on the effect of electronic health record (EHR) implementation as seen by those most responsible for using the system in a residency program. Our objective was to investigate how faculty, residents, and both clinical and nonclinical staff view the effects of EHR implementation on a broad range of issues. All 72 personnel were surveyed at 8 months (response rate 75%) and 12 months (response rate 57%) following full implementation of the EHR. The survey inquired into subjective perceptions of amount of time spent documenting and occurrence of documentation, effect on patient care, interference with other activities, effect on communication and relationships, coding/billing process, and overall efficiency. Since EHR implementation, faculty and residents perceived documentation as taking 13 minutes per patient. It was seen as interfering with personal and educational time. Perception of all personnel was that the EHR was having a negative effect on patient care. There was no detectable statistically significant change between the 8- and 12-month surveys. A perception of the promised improvement in patient care, provider communications, and billing efficiency due to EHR implementation was not realized in this population.