Physicians have to complete several time-consuming and burnout-inducing tasks in their EMRs for everyday care of patients. Poor workflow design generates increased effort for physicians. In this study, we measure time doctors take to retrieve and review information in the patient chart at the beginning of a visit; one of approximately 12 tasks a doctor must do in the EMR during the visit. Information retrieval takes approximately 40 minutes per day. Automation could save 75% of that time. We estimate that if every family doctor in Canada could save 30 minutes through automation of just this one process, we could free up time equivalent to >3000 physicians and >5 million patients; enough to absorb the vast majority of patients who currently do not have a doctor. We know of no more powerful intervention than workflow automation in Canadian EMRs to increase the supply of doctors while simultaneously reducing a major cause of burnout. We recommend an accelerated research program to identify additional opportunities for workflow automation and a regulatory program to ensure that every physician has access to workflow automation in their EMR.
Keywords: Electronic medical records; burnout; regulation; workflow automation; workflow optimization.