New Data Reveal What’s Really at the Root of Clinician Burnout—and It’s Not the EHR

Burnout is an ongoing problem in urgent care and other practice environments. It’s been exacerbated since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know this already. But JAMA Network Open just published new data that shed light on the biggest culprits, which in turn could give you a leg up on helping your providers maintain a healthy perspective and peak productivity. According to the article, based on a cross-sectional study of 1,310 clinicians, gender and work culture may have as much (if not more) to do with burnout than use of electronic health record systems. While this may come as a surprise to those who have come to view EHRs as the boogeyman when studying burnout, this latest study found that local work culture accounts for 17.6% variance compared with only 1.3% for EHR metrics. Females were more likely to experience burnout, with one factor being work culture domains of commitment and work-life balance. JUCM has offered several articles on burnout in the urgent care center. If you haven’t read them, you might find Strategies for Managing Employee Burnout and Recognizing and Preventing Provider Burnout in Urgent Care especially helpful.