News: EHR use no longer top cause of burnout, report shows

Since the COVID-19 pandemic’s beginning, EHR-related factors have dropped from top spots as a cause of burnout for clinicians, making way for chaotic work environment and long hours, according to a KLAS research report.

Before the pandemic, 25% of clinicians reported some degree of burnout. Now, that number has risen to nearly 33%. The main contributor for this growth is, unsurprisingly, COVID-19 related stresses. During 2021, the report found that all contributing factors to clinician burnout have increased in frequency and that rate of increase has accelerated.

Causes for burnout that have increased most during the pandemic are different for nurses and physicians, with nurses noting after-hour workloads as the main cause for burnout while physicians are attributing it to a chaotic work environment.

Editor’s note: The KLAS report can be found here. Additional ACDIS coverage of burnout can be found here.