Press Ganey Associates' 2009 Hospital Pulse Report: Physician Perspectives on American Hospitals found physicians' satisfaction with electronic medical records (EMRs) is decreasing. Many physicians actually consider this increasingly common technology to be time-consuming and fear that it may compromise patient safety. The report also finds that, for the third year in a row, physicians' number one issue is a gap in the physician-administration relationship. Physicians continue to report a need for better communication between administrators and medical staff.
"Many, if not most, hospitals are just now implementing EMRs that the physicians have to use for order entry or to access information," said Christina Dempsey, RN, MBA, CNOR senior vice president for PatientFlow, Press Ganey Associates. "The lower satisfaction may indeed simply be the learning curve associated with this new tool and may improve as physicians become more accustomed to the technology and the technology is updated and adapted to meet physicians' concerns."
The 2009 Physician Pulse Report examines the experiences of 27,328 physicians practicing at nearly 300 hospitals and facilities across the country. Other significant findings from the report: