Electronic consultations and clinician burnout: An antidote to our emotional pandemic?

Health information technology is a major source of clinician burnout due to increased administrative burden and inefficient work processes. Electronic consultations (eConsults) represent a promising innovation to improve access to specialty care by reducing wait times for specialist visits and reduc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 2021-04, Vol.28 (5), p.1038-1041
Main Authors: Lee, Michelle S, Nambudiri, Vinod E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Burnout, Professional
Humans
Personal Autonomy
Physicians, Primary Care
Remote Consultation
Telemedicine
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Summary:Health information technology is a major source of clinician burnout due to increased administrative burden and inefficient work processes. Electronic consultations (eConsults) represent a promising innovation to improve access to specialty care by reducing wait times for specialist visits and reducing unnecessary in-person specialist visits. While eConsults have clear benefits for patients and healthcare systems, their potential effects on provider burnout should be considered. Using a framework which outlines that the loss of autonomy, competence, and relatedness as the main contributing factors to clinician "amotivation" and burnout, we discuss the use of eConsults and their potential to mitigate or exacerbate burnout for primary care providers and specialists, as well as recommendations for implementation of eConsults to reduce burnout.
ISSN:1527-974X
1067-5027
1527-974X
DOI:10.1093/jamia/ocaa300