On average, nurses report significantly higher EHR satisfaction than physicians, according to the latest KLAS report. Today, nurses outnumber physicians in the United States four to one. The report, The Nurse EHR Experience: An Arch Collaborative Impact Report 2019 measures the nurse EHR experience and identifies opportunities for improvement in the nurse experience and what the nurse experience can teach other groups of clinicians about how to succeed with the EHR.
Nurses EHR Experience Difference Between Other Clinician Groups
KLAS reveals that the feedback from these nurses shows that they have a different experience with the EHR than do other clinician groups, and overall, nurses achieve significantly higher levels of EHR satisfaction than physicians—of the nurses surveyed to date, 62% are pleased with their EHR, 20% are frustrated, and 18% are indifferent. For an undetermined reason, nurses appear to get more patient-focused insights from the EHR than providers.
Other key findings include:
– Nurses have a higher Net EHR Experience score (NEES) than any other clinician group except allied health professionals
– The most satisfied nurses are those who work outside the US, followed closely by nurses who work in children’s hospitals.
– Regardless of organization type, nurses are more satisfied with the EHR than are physicians.
– Community hospitals (which the Arch Collaborative defines as standalone hospitals with <500 beds) are the only organization type in which nurses have a lower NEES than physicians in any organization type.
– Nurses in community hospitals have an average NEES of 18.8, which is lower than the average NEES for physicians in the organization types with the highest physician EHR satisfaction—community health systems (NEES of 28.6) and children’s hospitals (NEES of 23.7).
– Nurses report particularly high levels of agreement that the EHR is reliable, has needed internal integration, keeps patients safe, and has the functionality needed for their specific clinical focus.
– Less than half of surveyed nurses agree that their EHR’s current external integration capabilities meet their expectations. However, only half agree to at least some extent that the EHR makes them as efficient as possible, and just over half agree that the EHR provides them with the analytics, quality measures, and reporting they need.
– When it comes to patient safety, nurses are more likely to agree that the EHR is helpful, and in fact, this is an area where nurses have some of their highest agreement: 67% of nurses agree or strongly agree, while less than half of providers (47%) do.
– And when it comes to the EHR’s ability to enable the delivery of patient-centered care, there is an 18-point difference between nurses and providers.
In conclusion, nurses are a group whose EHR use should receive additional exploration and research in the future as all clinicians can gain insights into how nurses approach the EHR.
