Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31292905›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2019

Practicing Clinicians' Recommendations to Reduce Burden from the Electronic Health Record Inbox: a Mixed-Methods Study.

Daniel R Murphy, Tyler Satterly, Traber D Giardina, Dean F Sittig, Hardeep Singh

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
7.2field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
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  13. Burden of administrative responsibilities in primary care: Qualitative study.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Daniel R MurphyCenter for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt) (152), Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC), 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. drmurphy@bcm.edu.
Tyler SatterlyCenter for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt) (152), Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC), 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
Traber D GiardinaCenter for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt) (152), Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC), 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
Dean F SittigUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston's School of Biomedical Informatics and the UT-Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality & Safety, Houston, TX, USA.
Hardeep SinghCenter for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt) (152), Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC), 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center · USBaylor College of Medicine · USCenter for Innovation · USMemorial Hermann · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWorkload from electronic health record (EHR) inbox notifications leads to information overload and contributes to job dissatisfaction and physician burnout. Better understanding of physicians' inbox requirements and workflows could optimize inbox designs, enhance efficiency, and reduce safety risks from information overload.

designWe conducted a mixed-methods study to identify strategies to enhance EHR inbox design and workflow. First, we performed a secondary analysis of national survey data of all Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care practitioners (PCP) to identify major themes in responses to a free-text question soliciting suggestions to improve EHR inbox design and workflows. We then conducted expert interviews of clinicians at five health care systems (1 VA and 4 non-VA settings using 4 different EHRs) to understand existing optimal strategies to improve efficiency and situational awareness related to EHR inbox use. Themes from survey data were cross-validated with interview findings.

resultsWe analyzed responses from 2104 PCPs who completed the free-text inbox question (of 5001 PCPs who responded to survey) and used an inductive approach to identify five themes: (1) Inbox notification content should be actionable for patient care and relevant to recipient clinician, (2) Inboxes should reduce risk of losing messages, (3) Inbox functionality should be optimized to improve efficiency of processing notifications, (4) Team support should be leveraged to help with EHR inbox notification burden, (5) Sufficient time should be provided to all clinicians to process EHR inbox notifications. We subsequently interviewed 15 VA and non-VA clinicians and identified 11 unique strategies, each corresponding directly with one of these five themes.

conclusionFeedback from practicing end-user clinicians provides robust evidence to improve content and design of the EHR inbox and related clinical workflows and organizational policies. Several strategies we identified could improve clinicians' EHR efficiency and satisfaction as well as empower them to work with their local administrators, health IT personnel, and EHR developers to improve these systems.

Indexed as

Attitude of Health PersonnelBurnout, ProfessionalElectronic Health RecordsElectronic MailHumansPrimary Health CareQuality ImprovementSurveys and QuestionnairesUnited StatesUnited States Department of Veterans AffairsWorkloadburnoutefficiencyelectronic health recordshealth information technologymedical informaticssituational awareness

Identifiers

PMID31292905
PMCPMC6712240
OpenAlexW2961046602

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.