Even on vacation, physicians can’t escape their EHRs

Despite being on vacation, many primary care physicians find themselves logging into electronic health records (EHRs), unable to fully step away from their professional responsibilities. A new study published in JAMA Network Open analyzed EHR activity logs and found that physicians frequently engage in work-related tasks during paid time off (PTO), particularly at the beginning and end of their vacations.

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine studied the EHR use of 56 primary care physicians across an academic and community health system from January 2022 to July 2023. The results revealed that doctors spent an average of 16.1 minutes per day logged into EHRs while on vacation. Nearly 40% of their PTO days involved some EHR use, and 19% of days included more than 30 minutes of engagement.

The study found a clear pattern: physicians were most likely to use EHRs on the first and last days of vacation. Physicians accessed EHRs on an average of 57% of first days and 63.5% of last days. Middle vacation days saw lower engagement, as only 29% of middle vacation days included EHR use.

Longer vacations were associated with less EHR engagement overall, with physicians logging in on 50% of short vacation days (2-5 days) compared to just 18% of days during vacations lasting longer than 10 days.

A significant portion of this time was spent managing inbox-related tasks. Researchers found that physicians dedicated an average of 39.5% of their total EHR time during PTO to handling messages and administrative responsibilities.

The study did not identify significant differences in EHR use between academic and community physicians, suggesting that challenges in disconnecting from work affect both groups similarly.

The authors suggest that organizations should work to implement strategies that limit clinical responsibilities during physicians’ PTO. They also call for future research into potential interventions to help physicians fully disconnect from work.

As physician burnout continues to be a pressing issue in primary care, this study highlights the need for systemic changes that allow physicians to truly step away from work during their time off.