Author Interviews, Education, Electronic Records, JAMA / 08.12.2015
Medical Residents Work Almost 70 hours per week, 1/3 on Electronic Records
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
David Ouyang MD
Department of Internal Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Ouyang: In American teaching hospitals, trainee resident physicians are an integral part of the medical team in performing procedures, writing notes, and coordinating care. As more care is being facilitated by electronic medical record (EMR) systems, we are just now finally able to understand how much residents work and how residents spend their time. In our study, we examined the types and timing of electronic actions performed on the EMR system by residents and found that residents spend about a third (36%) of their day in front of the computer and frequently perform many simultaneous tasks across the charts of multiple patients. Additionally, residents often do work long hours, with a median of 69.2 hours per week when on the inpatient medicine service.
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